Harry Potter and the Secrets Revealed
by DragonHeart2006
Summary: Harry and his friends return for their last year of school. With Voldemort expanding his areas of influence and NEWTS, they expect to be busy. However their world is turned upside down with the arrival of a new girl from the U.S.
1. Halloween Ball

Harry Potter and the Secrets Revealed

Chapter 1

Halloween Ball 

The common room was filled with Hogwarts students attempting to get their homework done. Outside it was gloomy and rainy, the perfect weather for two Gryffindors. One was Ronald Weasley, the youngest male child in his family. At that moment he had his head pressed against the palm of his hands trying to complete a rather nasty potions essay on the dangers of a love potion. The other was Hermione Granger, the class bookworm and Head Girl of Hogwarts. She was sitting at the same table as Ron but had already finished all of her homework. Instead she was staring at the entrance to the common room as if waiting for someone to enter, lost in her thoughts.

"Oh, bloody hell! I give up. This essay is a waste of time anyway," said Ron suddenly. Hermione gave him one of her glares. "Well it is! And you aren't going to help so I may as well just stop working on it and save myself from further headaches."

"Ron you know Professor Snape will give you a zero for that paper if it isn't finished."

"He'll give me a zero anyway. I might as well earn it. Besides I just can't concentrate. I mean how can I when Harry is being so secretive."

"I know Ron."

"I mean what can keep him out so late? It's not even his duty tonight. Then there are all those times when he suddenly has to leave class. I'm surprised he's not failing."

"I know Ron. It bothers me too. But you need to finish your essay."

"But Hermione I just can't …"

"Ronald Weasley if you do not finish that essay I will hex you into the next millennium! Am I understood?" Hermione said in a commanding tone.

"Yes ma'am." With that said Ron went back to working on his essay and Hermione went back to thinking about Harry. Since the start of term he had been disappearing at odd hours and not returning until late. Every time he came back he looked pale and tired. Hermione suspected that he was doing something that he really didn't want to do, but had no choice. What she did know was that whatever it was that he was doing it had to deal with something that Dumbledore had spoken to him about while they were still at Grimmauld Place.

It was nearing midnight when Harry finally entered the common room. He looked fatigued and moody. With a sigh he sat down near the fireplace next to his friends. Ron who had yet to finish his essay looked up at his best mate.

"Urgg, it's late, I'm tired, and there is a nasty essay with my name on it that is about two feet away from being done," Harry said.

"You have TWO feet left!" Ron said amazed.

"Yeah."

"Good then you can help me. I need to know what happens if the…"

"Ron, you will not ask Harry for help on that stupid essay. Can't you see that he's exhausted and still has to finish his," Hermione said.

"How come you don't yell at him? He's not done either."

"He's farther than you."

"So that doesn't mean he gets special treatment."

"Ronald Weasley don't you even start."

"GUYS! That's enough!" Harry yelled. His two friends looked at him. "I'm not going to be able to concentrate enough as it is, I don't need you two fighting while I try to finish this torture device that teachers call essays."

"Harry why are you back so late all the time? Where do you go?" asked Hermione trying to change the subject. Harry sighed and stopped looking for his materials.

"Herms I wish I could tell you, I really do, but I am absolutely forbidden to do so. Mainly for safety reasons."

"So it's dangerous then?" Ron asked.

"Yes."

"But Harry what if you get hurt? How will anyone know? You can trust us. You know that don't you?" Hermione said.

"Of course I know that. It's not my decision to not tell you guys. As to if I get hurt, there are people who know when I go. Now please don't ask anymore questions I can't talk about it and I really have to finish this essay."

The next day the school was filled with excitement. The reason for this excitement was that in the beginning of the month Dumbledore had announced that there would be a dance on Halloween for third years and up. The dance would be like a masquerade/costume ball. Today was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. Which meant that the students could go and buy their costumes and that the ball was only a week away.

While in the costume store Hermione and Ron, who had been dating since Christmas of their sixth year were obviously going to the dance together, kept arguing on what to wear. Hermione thought that they should have matching costumes; Ron went along with the idea but didn't like any of the suggestions that she was saying. Harry, who already had his costume had to listen to their bickering. After listening to about an hour and a half of them arguing Harry decided to help.

"Why don't you just go as Romeo and Juliet?"

"What's Romeo and Juliet?" asked Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes and explained the story to him. "I like the idea what about you Herms?"

"Me too."

"So it's decided we're going as Romeo and Juliet."

"Thank God." Ron and Hermione chuckled at Harry's remark. After Ron and Hermione paid for their costumes the trio went to the Three Broomsticks for some Butterbeer. While they were there the rest of the D.A. joined them, or at least what was left of the original group. They talked until it was time to return to Hogwarts. Then they made their way back to their respective common rooms.

That week seemed to fly by for the Hogwarts students. Pretty soon it was the day of the ball and the excitement in the air was intoxicating. The ball was to start at eight so the girls all went to get dressed at six. Ron complained about how he would never understand why it took them so long to get ready. Harry was probably the only person not looking forward to the ball, but he knew that if he didn't show up it would cause a lot of talk. Finally the boys went and got into their costumes. Looking around the seventh year boys dormitory Harry realized that he was the only one without a date. He came upon this conclusion by looking at the other boy's costumes, which clearly stated that their dates helped because they would never chose those costumes themselves. Harry dressed so slowly that his dorm mates left to meet their dates before they could even tell what he was dressed up as. Which was exactly the way Harry wanted it. With one final look in the mirror Harry put on his mask that covered the right side of his face, thus concealing his scar, and headed towards the Great Hall.

By the time that he reached the Great Hall the ball had already started and there was couples all over the dance floor. Harry glanced around, quickly surveying everyone, as he got used to the feeling of contacts. He had never liked the idea of contacts thinking they would be too much of a hassle, but he had to get them in order for him to get the costume that he wanted. Finally Harry spotted his two best friends sitting at a table in the far corner of the room. He slowly walked towards them afraid that he would be disturbing them. They both looked up as he approached. He could tell by the look on their faces that they didn't recognize him. It didn't surprise him for when he looked in the mirror after dressing he didn't recognize himself.

"Hi, guys," said Harry as he came upon the table.

"Hi," was Ron's short, confused reply.

"Come on Ron don't you recognize me?"

"Should I?"

"Well considering that we've best mates for seven years I would say yes you should."

"HARRY!" Hermione and Ron shrieked.

"Shhhh, keep it down. I don't want too many others to know that I'm here," said Harry as he sat down.

"Why not?"

"I don't want to be bothered."

"Who are you supposed to be Harry?" asked Ron.

"The Phantom of the Opera."

"Oh, that's such a good play! Harry how did you ever come up with the idea?"

"The Dursley's went to see it during the summer when I had to stay with them."

"Well you would make a very good phantom. The look suits you."

"To be perfectly honest it wasn't my first idea, but it was the only one that suited my needs." The rest of the ball went by fairly well. Ron and Hermione danced quite a few times. Harry spent most of the night at the table, which was what he wanted. However he was stared at most of the night with his unusual costume. So when Dumbledore signaled the end of the dance Harry was the first out of the door.

The next day most of the students who had attended the ball slept in quite late. That was with the exception of Harry. He had decided to get up early and get a head start on his homework for that week. He had just finished a report on Morgana for History of Magic and was about to start on his transfiguration essay when Ron and Hermione came yawning down the staircase. His two half asleep friends stumbled towards the table that he was sitting at.

"Harry what are…you doing up so early?" asked Ron yawning in the middle of his sentence.

"Homework."

"Well obviously, but why?"

"Because I need to get it done before the night its due so I can actually sleep for once."

"Geeze Harry I think you've been hanging around Hermione too much, she's starting to rub off on you," was Ron's sleepy reply. Hermione started glaring at him. Ron didn't notice a thing.

"Ronald Weasley are you saying that it's a bad thing to be around me?" Hermione questioned.

"N...n…no, I…I was just saying th…that…" Ron stuttered.

"You were just saying what? That I'm boring to be around because I like to get things done on time, that I work too much."

"No, n...n...never…"

"If you didn't want to be around me so much why then did you ask me out? Why did you become my friend?"

"Hermione I didn't mean…what I meant to say was…"

"What? What did you mean to say?"

"He meant to say that your domineering presence has finally had a good effect on one of us," Harry interrupted. Ron nodded his head vigorously while Hermione scowled and rolled her eyes.

"Fine I'll let it go this time, but know this Ron Weasley, Harry is not always going to be around to save your arse, so you had better start coming up with explanations of your own," said Hermione dangerously. Ron nodded. "Let's go to breakfast, I'm hungry."

At breakfast the trio pretty much had roam of the table as no one was up yet. So they got to be as loud and as messy as they wanted. They were having a lot of fun just being three seventeen year olds when suddenly Harry's face contorted in pain.

"What is it Harry?" asked Ron.

"Is it your scar?" said Hermione. However Harry just jumped up from the table and practically ran out of the Great Hall leaving his friends sitting at the table confused at their friend's behavior.


	2. Halloween at Salem's

Chapter 2

Halloween at Salem's

It was a warm autumn day in Salem, Massachusetts. Red, orange, and yellow leaves littered the streets of the city. Their were pictures of black cats and green faced witches with wart on their nose, flying broomsticks or cackling over a cauldron tapped up in the windows of many houses. In some places, you could see crude drawings of mummies, werewolves, and Frankenstein. Other houses even had orange jack-o-lantern lights hanging from various places across their porches and nearly every house had at least one jack-o-lantern waiting for the night's festivities. Yes, it was Halloween in Salem and you could feel the excitement of the children who couldn't wait to go trick-or-treating.

There was one place in Salem where there were no Halloween decorations or jack-o-lanterns. It was a place many of the inhabitants of Salem never went to, in fear of disturbing its natural beauty. They were not afraid of it, but somehow they knew not to go there. The place was a huge marble building and nearly everything in it was white. It had a large iron fence surrounding the perimeter. The fence was connected to a large iron gate at the front of the building. No one in Salem could actually say for certain how large the property was or what it was used for, but one thing they did know for certain was that whoever owned it never decorated it for any holiday, especially not a holiday based on bright colors that would contrast with the white marble.

This place was Salem's Witch's Institute. It was a magical school for both witches and wizards, even though the name suggested otherwise. Salem's was a unique magical school in the fact that it was the only private magical school in the world to let their students go home on the weekends and every holiday, if they wished to. So after class let out on this very day, Salem wizarding officials would be surrounding the school to make sure that no muggles noticed the students exiting the school.

Being that it was her last year at her beloved school, Samantha Granger was in one of the last groups of students through the gate and driven to the bus station. At the bus station, Samantha said good-bye to her friends and started walking home. Samantha was one of the few students at the institute that actually lived in the town, so she didn't have to travel very far. Her parents were very wealthy and because of that, they had a large property just outside of the town. Sam loved her home. It was an old country house made during the Salem Witch Trials, but had been remodeled slightly. It had a huge field around which made for a very large back yard. In the field there was a storage shed that hasn't been used in awhile.

When Sam reached her home, she saw that once again her parents had gone overboard on decorating it for the holiday. Halloween had always been the Grangers favorite holiday and their enthusiasm only grew when they found out that their daughter and only child was a witch.

The pillars on the front porch had lights strung around them from the top to the bottom, and the stair railing had fake cobwebs and spiders spread out over them. A scarecrow was sitting in an old rocking chair that squeaked when it moved. Jack-o-lanterns were in every corner and on every step of the porch. When Sam opened the front door the sound of a woman screaming meet her ears. Traditional Granger Halloween protocol; a recorded voice timed to go off every time the door opened; very useful in scaring small children. Straight ahead of her was a large plastic cauldron filled to the brim with candy for the trick-or-treaters. The entry way was decorated much like the porch was with the spider webs and lights. Samantha smiled; it was good to be home. She had just set her things down when her mom walked in from the other room.

"Hey sweetheart, how has school been?" her mother asked, giving Samantha one of her famous hugs.

"Great as always," Sam replied. Her mom was a thin, short woman with graying light brown hair and warm gray eyes. She had smile wrinkles on her face, but she still looked younger than her age. Samantha and her mother were very close. Sam knew she could tell her mom anything and she wouldn't tell a soul.

"That's good." Just then the screaming went off again, signaling her father's entrance. He walked through the front door carrying two bags. Her father had dark black hair and brown eyes. He was very tall and a little fat.

"Sammy, you're finally home!" he exclaimed when he saw his daughter.

"Hi, daddy! What's in the bags?" Samantha asked, also giving her dad a hug.

"The Granger women's costumes of course."

"Where's yours?"

"Upstairs. I managed to find mine awhile ago. Yours, however, wasn't so easy." Sam took her bag and looked at her costume. It was one of Cleopatra.

"Daddy, no offense or anything, but I've been Cleopatra three times already."

"I know, but the costume suits you so well." He was right of course. Her dark black hair, dark hazel eyes, and tan complexion, with a little make-up made her the perfect Cleopatra. Sam just shrugged in agreement.

The night was a fun one in the Granger household. They played pranks on trick-or-treaters, ate some of their huge stash of candy, and watched horror movies. By mid-night, all three were exhausted so they decided to go to bed. As soon as Sam's head hit her pillow she was asleep.

Nearly an hour and a half later, she woke up to the sound of something breaking. She sat straight up in her bed, now wide-awake. Footsteps could be heard on the stairs. Sam heard her parent's door squeak open. On cat like feet, she moved stealthily across her room and opened her door a crack. Through the crack she saw a tall man standing over her parents sleeping forms. Her parents woke up and noticed the man standing there.

"Who are you and what do you want?" her dad asked. The man laughed a laugh that sent chills down Samantha's spine.

"I am Lord Voldemort and I am here to kill your daughter," the man said in a British accent. What Sam couldn't understand was what a British man would want to do with her.

"If you want to kill Sam then why wake us?" asked Sam's mother, her voice quivering with fear.

"Because to kill her and not kill you would lead the authorities to me. That and I don't intend to kill her yet. No, I have something planned for her." Sam then watched in horror as he raised his wand to kill her parents. Sam didn't wait to see what happened next. She quietly shut and locked her door, grabbed her wand, and opened the entrance to a secret passageway that led into the shed in the field.


	3. Foote and Chris

Chapter 3

Foote and Chris

Deep within the forests of Scotland there was a large house right in the center of the woods. It was an old and dark house. It had many broken windows and the roof needed repairing. Dead vines covered the ancient stone walls. The back door was hanging off of one hinge. There were dead trees and shrubbery all around the yard. In fact none of the plant life was alive around the house. For someone to unexpectedly come across this house they would think they were on the road to hell. However, the broken down appearance of the house and the dead plant life couldn't install all of that fear. No, the main reason nearly all living things kept their distance from this place was that the house reeked of evil. The only living things that would ever come to this house were the people who would occasionally appear out of nowhere and go into the house and then disappear again. These people always came in large groups and were always dressed oddly. They wore silver masks to hide their faces and wore long, dark cloaks. Every one of them had a strange mark on their left forearm. It was that of a serpent protruding from the mouth of a human skull. To the wizard world this tattoo was known as the dark mark, and it was symbol of evil and death. The tattoo signified that you were a Death Eater, a minion to Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark lord the world had ever seen.

Tonight was one of the occasions when the Death Eaters came together to meet at the dilapidated house.

The newest recruit into Voldemort's ranks had been to the house many times before but it always sent shivers down his spine. His name was Zachary Foote. He had long black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and although the silver mask covered his face, you could still see his stunning brown eyes through the slits. He was a tall, fit young man but his most important quality was that he was very important to the success of his master's plan.

Zachary had come to Voldemort claiming he had recently been inducted into Albus Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix and was willing to give valuable information to him in exchange for power and money. He had to, of course, prove himself reliable and although to the dismay of some, he quickly moved himself up to the higher ranks and made himself very valuable to the Dark Lord's cause. Zachary always had to prove his loyalty, no matter what he did, as he could not have his arm branded without raising serious questions among the members of the Order and most importantly, Albus Dumbledore.

As Zachary walked towards the house there were popping noises all around him. He turned and watched as his fellow Death Eaters appeared at their master's call. Without saying a word to anyone they walked into the house of their Lord and went into the dark musky meeting room. The room's only source of light was coming from the fireplace that was nearly roaring as it consumed the wood. Although bright, it did little to heat the room this could have been because of the figure that stood before it.

Lord Voldemort stood in front of the fire, his back turned on the door. Everyone silently and quickly took their space in the Death Eater circle. After everyone had settled into place, Voldemort turned around, his face gleaming with delight.

"As you know," he began. "My plan to ensure Harry Potter's demise has become an international matter involving an unexpected but key element in the plan." He gave a twisted smile. "Thanks to Foote's information I was able to destroy any evidence that would lead the United States Aurors to our faction. I have an associate in the United States who will take care that our strategy will be a success. We will have a new and powerful ally joining our ranks who will have the utmost feelings of anger and contempt for our young Harry. And if everything goes accordingly, Potter will be dead before the end of his Hogwarts year." He paused momentarily to let the information imbed itself in his disciples. "Foote," He said turning to Zachary. "The success of this depends on your information, I must know IMMEDIATELY if Dumbledore's plans change. I do not need to remind any of you on the consequences of failure." It was silent as each reflected on the death of Hilary Frankinbocker who paid for her failed attack on the Minister of Magic. "You all know your assignments." Voldemort concluded and they were dismissed back into the dark eerie night.

Meanwhile, back in Salem, Massachusetts Samantha Granger was arguing with the police.

"Listen young lady." The county sheriff said sitting down at his desk. "The only thing that adds up your in your story is the fact that your parents were killed. There is absolutely no evidence that suggests that someone broke into your house and murdered them without getting to you, while you insist that there was someone else there. It doesn't add up."

"Are you implying that _I_ killed my parents?" asked a shocked Samantha.

"Things look suspicious, that's all I'm saying," said the investigator after a pause.

"Why would I kill them? I have no reason to kill them!" shouted an angry Sam slamming her fists on the chair.

"I'm not saying it was you. But I'm not saying it was the man you claim it to be either. What I am saying is things don't add up.

"LIKE WHAT?"

"Like how you managed to escape and not them."

"I have already told you, I woke up when I heard him break into our house. I then heard him walk up the stairs and into my parent's bedroom. Then I listened to their conversation and as soon as said that he was going to kill my family and me I went through the passageway to a shed in our backyard and ran here. How hard is that to comprehend?"

Samantha was now utterly pissed off. First her parents were murdered in their own home, she had come to the police station wanting them to catch whoever did it and now she was being accused of doing the deed.

Okay so she wasn't completely honest with the police but what else was she going to tell them? That she saw a ruthless evil wizard kill her parents using a curse? Only in the wizard world would that fly and she was dealing with the muggle police here.

They kept her at the station for the rest of the night. They gave her some blankets and pillows so she could sleep, but Sam couldn't. She had far too much on her mind and was to scared and frustrated to sleep. That and the chairs in the police station lobby were really uncomfortable.

The next morning the police called Sam's neighbor Chris to come and get her. When he arrived he looked at her with a mixture of fear and compassion. However, he didn't speak to her until they were in his car and driving to his house.

"Sam I'm so sorry. You know you could've called last night, I would've come and gotten you," he said glancing at her in the passenger seat.

"I didn't want to wake you."

"Sam, we've been neighbors for a long time, you called me at two in the morning before to tell me you'd lost a tooth. Do you want to tell me the truth?"

"I was just so frustrated and confused, not to mention scared shitless-"

"That's alright I understand."

"How can you?" She asked incredulously.

"My parents were murdered too." He told her.

"Really? What happened?"

"Well they were working in the British Ministry of Magic in one of the departments. They were unspeakables you see and were on the verge of a breakthrough on something very important. Unfortunately an evil wizard found out and murdered them in their sleep."

"How horrible." Sam said but noted the similarities between the deaths.

"Yeah it happened the summer before my older brothers last year at Hogwarts."

"What's Hogwarts?" Sam asked curiously.

"It's the wizard school in the U.K. It's said to be greatest school for wizards."

"Oh. How much younger are you from your brother."

"He was about a year and a half older than me."

"What do you mean 'was' older than you?"

"Uh, he and his wife were, um, killed by the same man that killed our parents."

"Oh." She said, and then felt like slapping herself; it just didn't occur to her that he would be dead. "You know Chris, I kind of wish that I had called you last night," Sam said after a long pause.

"Why?" He asked pulling into his driveway.

"Because I am sore all over. They need to seriously think about getting more comfortable chairs in there or something." Sam said slowly getting out of the car.

Chris just laughed.


	4. Just Another Day

Chapter Four  
Just Another Day

Hermione and Ron went looking for Harry after he ran off from breakfast. They looked everywhere for him, including in the hospital wing and the Quidditch pitch but he was nowhere to found. After finally losing all her patience Hermione suggested they check the Marauders Map, and to their great surprise he wasn't anywhere on Hogwarts grounds.

It was getting late that night and Hermione and Ron were just about to go to Dumbledore and express their concerns when Harry came through the portrait hole. He looked tired and weak as he slowly and carefully made his way to his normal spot in front of the fireplace. He had been sitting for a few minutes without speaking to his friends before Ron thought it best to say something.

"So?"

"So what?" replied Harry without looking at them.

"So where were you? And don't give us that 'I was with Dumbledore' or 'I had to go to the Hospital Wing' crap because we looked Harry and we know you weren't on school grounds," responded Ron.  
It was clear from the tone of his voice that he wanted answers and was prepared to stay up all night for them.

"You're right I wasn't on school grounds," said Harry, "but I can't tell you what I was doing." That clearly wasn't the answer that Ron was looking for.

"Why not?"

"Because I promised Dumbledo..."

"Oh, for pete's sake Harry! Lately that's all you seem to be telling us! Is there anything that you haven't promised Dumbledore not to tell us?"

"If there was don't, you think I would have told you!" shouted Harry. Ron looked taken back by his outburst.

"Harry we're only asking because we get worried about you," Hermione said softly.

"I know." Harry sighed. "I really wish I could tell you, but it's not my choice to make." With that said Harry went up to his dormitory and went to sleep.

The next day classes started again. The week went in its usual routine with Snape making Potions miserable, Binns boring every student to tears, and Defense Against the Dark arts being the Gryfindors favorite class.  
As the weekend came around the seventh years were groaning about the amount of homework that they had. Even Hermione seemed to think that it was a bit too much. Of course their accumulating amount of homework was due to the fact that they would be taking their NEWTs at the end of the year.

Everyone was talking jovially after dinner on Friday night while they walked back to their respective common rooms. That is everyone except Ron and Hermione, for once again Harry had disappeared and they were worried about him. As they thought back, the last time they had seen him was when he had walked out of the potions classroom. He had headed towards his dormitory to put his school things away. Normally they would have accompanied him, but Snape had held Harry back and they were already heading towards the Great Hall by the time Snape let him out.  
Harry didn't appear at dinner. So once again his two best friends were wondering where he was. They once again took out Harry's' map to see if he was on school grounds. And it didn't surprise the two when he wasn't anywhere on the map.

Meanwhile in the Riddle House, Voldemort was pondering the news he had just been given. He sat in silence staring into the roaring orange fire for a long time. He thought back to the conversation he had just had.

_It was nearing sunset and the sky was beginning to turn a brilliant combination of red and orange. To any normal person they would have had their breath taken away by the beauty of it. Lord Voldemort didn't even give it a second thought. He had been too busy planning his next move when he was broken from his revere by the trembling of one of his Death Eaters, Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail. __  
_

_"What is the meaning of disturbing me Wormtail?" asked Voldemort cruelly. __  
_

_"P...p...p...please master, I only come because I...I...I..." Peter stumbled. __  
_

_"Because you what?" __  
_

_"Because I believe that Zachary isn't trustworthy," he said quickly. __  
_

_"CRUCIO!" Peter screamed in agony until his master took off the curse. __  
_

_"Wormtail you already know that he has proven himself to us. Why should I believe you?" __  
_

_"Because there is no trace of him anywhere, I've looked. No one seems to know him." __  
_

_"All the better, that way no one will suspect him. Now get out of my sight!" Peter hurriedly scrambled away, leaving Voldemort alone. __  
_

The Dark Lord had been thinking about the conversation since then. He didn't believe that Wormtail's worries were for a legitimate reason, but he couldn't also say for certain that Zachary was still on his side.  
Dumbledore seemed to have a habit of turning his members over to the light side. That decision always ended in those certain individuals' deaths, of course, but Zachary didn't seem the type to turn easily. He would have to find a way to test Zachary and his faithfulness, and the Dark Lord knew just the test.

While Ron and Hermione were pondering over where Harry had gone to, Harry himself was speaking with the order. They were still lodged at Grimmauld Place with Sirius' permission. Harry was telling the order about a rather disturbing dream that he had had.

"So you're saying that You-Know-Who killed a muggleborn witch's parents but not her?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Yes," was Harry's reply.

"And she is somehow a part of his grand design?" Tonks asked.

"Apparently."

"Dumbledore we can't let that monster get a hold of that girl," said Remus. "God only knows what will happen if he succeeds."

"We should have her come to Hogwarts," was the immediate reply.

"Wait, how can we be sure that bringing her here isn't exactly what Voldemort wants us to do?" asked Sirius.

"As you all know, I have a spy among Voldemort's ranks. He has told me that he planned to use the girl to kill Harry." Dumbledore said. "But the way he was going to use her was that she would be trained then sent out as a form of mercenary. I believe if we manage to bring her to Hogwarts before she fully understands what's going on then Voldemort will not be able to use her," Everyone nodded their heads in agreement with Dumbledore's idea.

"Okay, so how are we going to get her here?" asked Sirius.

"I believe it is time for me to get in touch with an old friend," replied Dumbledore getting up signaling the end of the meeting.


	5. Decisions

Chapter Five  
Decisions

Samantha was sleeping in Chris' spare bedroom when she was woken up by angry voices coming from another room. She turned over with all intentions of going back to sleep, when she heard her name mentioned. This got her interest and she slowly got up and crept to the door. Sam slowly walked towards the noise of the people arguing. When she finally dared to go no further she sat down to listen on the floor.

"SHE SHOULDN'T GO SOMEPLACE WHERE NO ONE KNOWS HER!" She heard Chris yell.

"SHE HAS FAMILY THERE CHRIS, SO DON'T USE THAT ARGUMENT ON ME!" Another higher pitched voice argued.

"YEAH, ONE'S SHE'S NEVER MET! SHE SHOULD STAY HERE!"

"WITH WHO? SURELY NOT YOU!"

"WHAT'S SO WRONG WITH THAT?"

"YOU CAN BARELY TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, LET ALONE A CHILD!"

"SHE'S HARDLY A CHILD ANYMORE! FOR GOD'S SAKE WHE'S ALMOST OF AGE!"

"OH SO THAT WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU?" Sam heard enough. She was actually quite angry. Here they were deciding what was going to happen to her without even asking for her input. She quickly decided to let her presence be known. Quickly she walked into the room where she saw Chris and her headmistress glaring at each other.

"What in the name of all that's good is going on in here?" she asked. Though she sounded rude and was yelling at them, she figured that right now they didn't deserve respect. Both adults jumped and looked at her. It was her headmistress that answered her.

"I've come to take you back to Salem's."

"Why?" she asked crossing her arms, making it clear to both adults she was not in any mood to pacify.

"It seems that news travels rather quickly and Professor Dumbledore of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry has heard of what happened at your house. He wishes for you to go to Hogwarts. That way you'll be better protected."

"Am I not protected here?"

"Well, yes you are, but I fear that you are not going to be protected for long. You see we have never had to deal with the type of person that is after you Sam. Under the eye of Dumbledore you'll be better off."

"So you think that this guy will come back for me?"

"Yes."

"If I go, who will be my guardians?" Sam asked knowing she didn't know a soul overseas.

"Your Aunt and Uncle."

"You mean the ones that my parents refused to talk to!" Sam asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Who exactly is Dumbledore?" she asked referring to the unusual name.

"He is the headmaster at Hogwarts. He is also one of the most powerful wizards of the age. If you decide to go you'll receive an excellent education under him. From what I understand of your family history, you'll also be in the same year as your cousin. She will be able to help you get adjusted."

"I have a cousin that is also a witch?" Sam's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

"I believe so," her headmistress replied. Samantha didn't know what to say. Here she was with the chance to go to the best wizard school there was, something that she had hoped for since she found out she was a witch -though she always believed that Salem's was the best. Somehow she was torn between going. If she went to England then she would be attending Hogwarts, but living with her practically non existent aunt and uncle. Two people who she couldn't be sure that would accept her. But if she stayed she could stay with Chris and continue to attend Salem's, but would be risking her life.

"I'm sorry but this is too much at one time. I need time to think," Sam said finally.

"Alright, but don't take too long, Dumbledore and I need time to arrange things if you decide to go," Her headmistress said. "Anyway the weekend is almost over you might as well go back to the school and spend time with your friends. Maybe even get their advice,"

Sam just nodded her head in agreement and went to grab the few possessions that she had with her. Chris watched her walk out of the room with a dark look on his face.

Later that night Samantha was sitting in a large white room. This room would seem unlike any other room in the school with its white couches, chairs, and tables; in fact everything in the room was some form of white. She had been sitting on the couch nearest to the fireplace, thinking about the decision she had to make when her friends returned from their weekend at home. Samantha could no longer think after her friends came laughing into the room. They all stopped when they noticed that she didn't even ask about what they were laughing at; a very un-Sam like thing, even with what happened with her parents.

"Sam what's bothering you so much?" Jodie asked sitting next to her.

"Nothing," Sam replied.

"Yeah and I'm a duck," Amanda said sitting on the other side of her.   
Samantha had to smile at that response. It was such an Amanda saying. "Now sweetie what's wrong?"

"Well as you all know, my parents were murdered on Halloween. But the thing that you don't know is that, the man who murdered them is also after me." All of her friends gasped at this. "Professor Applebree came by today and gave me a choice. I can either stay here and risk being found by this guy, or go to Britain and have more protection."

Everyone was stunned silent. Finally one of them spoke.

"Well what are you going to do?" Jodie asked.

"That's just it, I don't know," Samantha told them.

"If you're afraid that that guy will find you, you should leave here," Amanda told her.

"I'm not afraid of that idiot!" Samantha disagreed. "I just…have this feeling that if I stay then I'll never be the same again, but if I go then I'll be in more trouble than I would be here, but somehow better off."

"Uh…Sam, that's really weird," another friend, Savannah told her.

"I know!"

"Where would you stay if you went?" asked Amanda.

"With my aunt and uncle, whom I have never spoken to, I'd also be going to school with my cousin. Apparently she's a witch too."

"Where would you go to school?"

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Oooooo, Harry Potter goes there!" Savannah said excitedly, her long red hair flipping over her shoulder.

"Who?" the others asked.

"Harry Potter!" Savannah repeated her nose wrinkling making her freckles all the more noticeable. "He's, like, the most talented kid on the Quidditch Pitch since…since it was invented! He was on his house team when he was a first year, and that never happens anywhere!"

"Its official, Savannah, you're obsessed with Quidditch," Sam said shaking her head.

"Sam for what it's worth, I think you should go to Hogwarts," Amanda said after a moment. "I mean we all are going to miss you, but if you're going to be safer there then that's what matters."

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"So it's settled, I'm going to Britain," She said with a sigh. "I'm going to go tell Professor Applebree," with that said Sam got up and walked out of the room in search of her headmistress.


	6. Meeting Family

Chapter Six  
Meeting Family

It was only a few weeks after Halloween, the buzz and excitement had dissipated and everything was back to its normal routine. And it happened to be on one of the normal days the trio was sitting eating breakfast when the owl post came. This was, of course, a normal daily occurrence at Hogwarts and they didn't even think twice about it as they reached for the abundance of food around them. The unusual thing was that Hermione was delivered a message by one of the school owls.

"What does it say Hermione?" asked Ron with his mouth full of potatoes. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and opened the letter.

"It's from Dumbledore," She said scanning over the neatly scrawled words before giving it to Harry for him and Ron to look at.

Ms. Granger,  
I must request your illuminating presence at my office after you consume all the delectable foods you possibly can. I'm also sorry to inform you that you will be excused from your classes.  
Sincerely yours,  
Albus Dumbledore

"What do you think he wants?" asked Harry setting the letter back down on the table. They both shrugged but Harry noticed Ron looked jealous at the fact that Hermione got to miss class. Hermione finished her breakfast as fast as she could then headed towards Dumbledore's office. When she arrived at the gargoyle she found Professor Dumbledore waiting for her.

"Good day Miss Granger, I assume you received my note?"

"Yes Professor,"

"Well then, please come in." He said before leading her up into his office. Much was the same as when she had last been in there, Fawkes still sat on the desk crooning, as well as all the numerous magical artifacts scattered about the room with the many portraits of the previous headmasters.

She sat down in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk and waited for him to speak. Dumbledore took his time to sit down and pressed his fingers together.

"Now, I'm sure, you're wondering why you are here," Hermione nodded. "I will answer that, but first I must ask, have you heard about the recent murders in Salem Massachusetts?"

"No sir I haven't."

"Well, it seems that Voldemort has expanded his area of targets, now reaching across the ocean. On Halloween night he went to a muggleborn's house and murdered her parents. Yet she was not killed, whether this is because Voldemort did not wish it or she managed to elude him I do not know but she is still alive but now no longer has a home."

"That's interesting sir, but what does it have to do with me?" Hermione asked.

"Samantha, that's her name, have I mentioned that?"

"No sir, you haven't,"

"Well, now you know, she has decided to stay with her aunt and uncle who live in England. She will be coming to Hogwarts tomorrow. I want you to help her get adjusted and hopefully make her feel at home. You will be meeting her at what you muggles call the airport at seven o'clock in morning. I daresay you will miss a few classes."

"Why the airport? If she's a witch couldn't he just floo or portkey here?"

"Yes and normally we would have that occur, but her aunt and uncle will also be there to meet her as they are muggles."

"Then why have me…"

"Meet her at the airport? Because it is your cousin you are going to meet." 

"My cousin?" Hermione sat there baffled by the news.

"Yes your cousin, Samantha Granger. The plan is for you and your parents to receive her at the airport, and I hope you will receive her most graciously, I will then, later tomorrow evening at 7 come to take you two back to Hogwarts. I hope you use the time to get to know one another as she will be a permanent resident at Hogwarts, and as you will be her only connection in the school. I hope this doesn't conflict with any activities you and Mr. Weasley planned?"

Hermione sat in shock. She had a cousin? An American no less, who had just recently suffered the death of her parents and now a move to another country, another school with HER? For a second she contemplated on whether Dumbledore was joking or not. Finally she nodded her head in agreement.

"Excellent, now that the matter's been settled, why don't you go to your common room, relax and enjoy your day off," said Dumbledore. Hermione vaguely realized she was getting up and walking down the steps, her brain was in information overload, a state that did not happen often.

"Where have you two been? I've been dying to tell you what happened!" Hermione said as Ron and Harry came in later that evening.

"In class," Ron said unenthusiastically plopping down into a chair.

"What did Dumbledore want?" Harry asked throwing down his book bag and sitting on the floor in front of the fire.

"I have a cousin!"

"Uh…what?" Ron asked.

"I have a cousin," Hermione repeated. "She lives in America. Apparently Voldemort killed her parents on Halloween. So she's going to come live at my house. Well sort of anyway."

"What do you mean sort of?" Harry asked.

"She's a witch too, so she'll be coming to Hogwarts. I'm supposed to meet her at the airport tomorrow and help her get adjusted,"

Ron leaned over to Harry. "What's an airport?"

Harry thought for a second then turned the floor over to Hermione.  
"Its- its," She tried to explain. "Oh take a Muggle Studies class Ron it won't kill you!"

"Hermione you don't seem very happy about this," Ron observed. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Of course I'm not Ronald! Don't you understand I just found out that I have a cousin, someone I didn't know about and she's coming to live with me! Not only that but it was Dumbledore who told me, not my parents who it should have been! Besides if her parents are the people who I think-"

"Whoa Hermione, slow down, I still have McGonagall's voice ringing in my ears about upcoming N.E.W.T.S."

"I can't slow down RONALD! I've had all this information stored up in my head ALL DAY without anyone to talk to and it's your DUTY as my boyfriend to listen to me!"

"Oh right oh right!" Ron said throwing his hands up in the air. "Go back to what you were saying about Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore told me about her, my parents had time to write and tell me about it but it was Dumbledore, and if he's talking about whom I think he is, our life as we know it will come to an excruciating painful halt!"

Ron and Harry just exchanged looks as Hermione began pacing back and forth.

"There is a reason that she lives in America!"

"Lived," Ron corrected.

Hermione turned on her foot and glared at him.

"Hey I'm trying to help you," He said defensively.

Harry gave Ron a reassuring smack on the back of his head before turning to Hermione.

"Why'd they live in America?"

"I was getting to that, somehow our parents got into this huge row about something,"

"What was the something?" Ron asked. Harry gave him another hard smack.

"If I knew I would tell you wouldn't I RONALD?"

"Just checking," He replied meekly.

"And then they moved off to America because they didn't want to see each other and they haven't spoken since! And now she's coming out of nowhere and how am I supposed to get along with her? I don't even know how old she is! She could be a FIRST YEAR!"

Ron and Harry both stared at her incredulously. Hermione had never been this worked up before, not even when she had to give up her quest on S.P.E.W.

"Herms, I don't know anything about your family's problems or why your parents and your aunt and uncle stopped speaking to one another, or even who your cousin is, but I do know you. I know that you are the one person in this school that has always given people a chance. You may think that you might not get along with your cousin based on family history, but you are never going to know for sure until you meet her and get to know her. I mean it's possible that the two of you won't get along and all that, but isn't it also possible that the two of you could get along and maybe even be friends?" said Harry. Hermione sighed and looked at the floor.

"You're right Harry. I'm judging her based on some stupid family feud. I should get to know her first, and that is exactly what I am going to do. Even if in the end I turn out to hate her." Harry smiled at her in return and Hermione went up to her room.

"Blimey Harry where'd you come up with that?" Ron asked.

"I'm tired, I'm hungry and I have homework,"

"Brilliant," Ron praised.

The next day Hermione woke up early to leave for London. She was going to portkey to her parent's house and then they were going to drive to the airport where they would meet her cousin for the first time.  
Hermione was so nervous; she could barely eat her breakfast the next morning. Ron and Harry's appetites however, were not affected at all by the thought of the prospective student. In fact, if anything could be said, it was that Ron made up for Hermione's lack of appetite.

She waited impatiently for her watch to get to the 10 and then headed to Dumbledore's office. He was sitting in his high back chair, waiting for her, holding an old newspaper. They didn't speak a word, instead Dumbledore just handed her the paper and nodded at her encouragingly.  
Hermione nodded back trying hard to not throw up. She didn't have to wait too long until she felt the pull around her naval and was zipping away. Before she knew it she was standing in her parent's living room. Both if her parents were staring at her in shock. Apparently they weren't expecting her to arrive like that.

"Hello, Hermione," her father said finally. She walked towards her parents and hugged them both.

"So I take it that Professor Dumbledore told you about Samantha?" her mother asked.

"He did. Mum did the two of you know about her? I mean before all of this happened," Hermione asked.

"Yes, we got a letter about her. It was very short and didn't have much detail and no return address. So we couldn't respond to it. We honestly didn't believe that we would ever hear from them again, so we never thought it was very important to mention her to you," explained her father. Hermione nodded in understanding.

"We should probably start heading towards the airport. The plane will be here in a few hours," her mom said.

The three of them got to the airport fairly quickly. Now they just had to wait for Samantha to get off her plane. The two adults had made a sign saying 'Samantha Granger' on it, so they wouldn't have to pester everyone that walked by. They watched the screen that told people if the planes we're on time, late, or had arrived. When they saw that Samantha's plane had landed they got up from their chairs and stood watching. Hermione's nerves worsened. They stood waiting for a few minutes until finally Hermione saw a girl who looked lost, confused, and was obviously searching for something. The girl had long, shiny black hair. She looked towards the Granger's and noticed their sign, then walked up to them.

"Samantha?" asked Mrs. Granger clearing her throat nervously.

"Hi," was her short reply. They all just stared at each other for awhile.

"So, um, my name is John, and this is my wife Anne, and our daughter Hermione. From what I understand you'll be going to school with her, so today we'll get your school supplies and uh, get to know one another," Mr. Granger said. Samantha just nodded her head and walked with them to get her luggage.

After they left the airport Hermione's parents decided it was best if the two girls went to Diagon Alley alone. While the two girls were purchasing Sam's stuff, the two adults were going to purchase a few last minute items for Sam's room.

Once they were dropped off at the Leaky Cauldron Hermione directed Sam into the alley way behind the pub. Sam looked around in wonder at everything in the street. Hermione laughed at her expression.

"What's so funny?" asked Sam looking at her cousin.

"You're acting like a muggleborn first year."

"Well excuse me, I have never been here before, remember? Nothing in America looks this…old! But coo!" She assured her cousin. Hermione just shook her head.

"Do you have any money?" she decided to ask. Sam nodded and pulled out a bulging pouch filled with clinking coins. Hermione gapped at her.

"What?" Sam asked completely confused.

"You carry around that much money?"

"Yeeeaaaah. Why, is that bad?"

"Someone could steal it! We should probably open a Gringotts account for you. That way nothing will happen to your money." Samantha just shrugged and followed Hermione down the street to the huge white, marble building. Samantha stood in awe.

"That's the bank?"

"Yes, Gringotts Bank. Don't you have one in the where you come from?"

"Well from what I've heard there are some around the country, but there isn't one in Salem's. No, I usually just put my money in a muggle bank and then have money exchanged at the school."

"Well, you can't do that here. Anyway let's go." After Sam opened her own account and put most of her money in it, the two started getting what she needed at Hogwarts. Sam was surprised at some of the items that she needed. After they were done with their shopping they waited in the Leaky Cauldron for Hermione's parents. Because they had so much time left before they were to meet, the girls decided to eat lunch.

"So Hermione, what's Hogwarts like?" asked Sam.

"Absolutely amazing! There's so much there to see and do!"

"What does it look like?"

"Well it's this massive castle, and well difficult to explain. You'll have to see it for yourself. Words truly don't do it justice."

"Okay. So what kind of things can you do?"

"Well there's Quidditch obviously. Then there are all sorts of clubs, like gobbstones and wizard's chess, and S.P.E.W. Or there are also things around the castle that even seventh years find to explore." 

"What's spew?"

"Not spew, S.P.E.W. The Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare,"

"That's stupid, who started that?"

"I did,"

"Oh," Sam said flustered. "Are the people easy to get along with?"

"Well it depends on where you fit in, but don't worry at Hogwarts everyone fits in somewhere."

"Where do you fit in?" Hermione had to think about that question before she could answer it.

"Well I guess a few different places. I mean I fit in with the intellectuals, and I guess with the Quidditch Match fans. But I feel the most at home with my best friends."

"And who are they?"

"Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley."

"You're friends with Harry Potter?"

"Yes, how do you know about him?"

"My friends Savannah is obsessed with Quidditch and she read this book about the best Quidditch players in the world and he was mentioned."

"Oh. I thought that you knew him for something else."

"Like what?"

"It's nothing. It's just that here, he's famous for being The-Boy-Who-Lived." Samantha pressed Hermione to explain more, but Hermione didn't want to talk about it anymore. She thought it best that Harry explain that particular story to her.

After that the two young women ate the rest of their lunch in silence. About the time that they finished, Hermione saw her parents through the window. So they paid their bill and walked out into muggle London.

The drive to Hermione's house was quiet and unsettling. No one knew what to say. Samantha sat stiff as a rock. She was tense and nervous and the silence did nothing to help her emotions. Hermione seemed to want to look everywhere but at her newly found cousin. After awhile they finally drove up to a large two story house. The front door was painted red, and there was a stone pathway leading to the front porch. The Granger family walked into the house.

The entrance hall was nothing spectacular. It was the basic white walled hallway with pictures hanging sporadically on them. The carpet in the house was a light blue. After hanging their jackets up the two adults showed Sam where her room was.

It was a small room, with dresser and a small closet on one side and a twin sized bed and a nightstand on the other. Sam put her stuff in the room and sat down on the bed. At that moment she realized that she was alone in a different country, with no means to escape for awhile. She couldn't even spend time with her friends. Sam had never felt more alone than she did at that moment. Hermione came in shortly after and said that dinner was ready.  
The family ate their meal in silence; no one knew what to say. After dinner Hermione told Sam that they were going to go to Hogwarts that night and that she should get the things she would need together because their escort would arrive shortly. After about an hour and a half the doorbell rang. Hermione's mother answered it.

At the door was Professor Dumbledore. Sam looked from his robes to his long beard, to his twinkling blue eyes and knew that he was not a normal person even to wizard standards.

"Hello Samantha, I am Headmaster Dumbledore. I trust that you have had a nice trip," he said.

"I don't think that any trip made under the circumstances would be pleasant, sir," was Sam's reply.

"Completely understandable. Anyway as your cousin has probably informed you I am here to take the two of you back to Hogwarts. Now the way you are to arrive is not normal for students. Normally you would arrive by train, but like you said the circumstances won't allow that. However every time you leave and come back to Hogwarts you will be on the train, unless it's an emergency of course." Samantha nodded her head in understanding. Dumbledore then pulled out an old newspaper and held it out. Hermione put her hand upon it. Samantha looked at both of them as if they were crazy.

"It's a portkey," explained Dumbledore seeing Samantha's confusion. Sam just nodded and touched the newspaper. Almost immediately she felt herself being pulled somewhere. The three of them landed outside a huge, magnificent castle.

"I think I would have preferred the train," said Sam as she got up off the ground. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Miss Granger I believe that you and your cousin should get some well deserved rest. Also, tomorrow I would like you to show her around the castle, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley may help you if you wish. Oh and for tonight she will sleep in the Gryffindor tower." Hermione nodded.  
They then walked into the castle. Hermione was leading the way, but Sam was so tired that she didn't pay attention to where she was being taken. Before she knew it she was standing in front of a large portrait of a fat lady.

"Password?" 

"Cirdog," Hermione said. The portrait swung open to reveal the Gryffindor Common Room. Sam was amazed by its beauty. She walked in and was looking around at the highest paintings on the walls. She didn't notice everyone staring at her.

"Hermione who is she?" The sound of a new voice made Sam look to see who had said it. She saw a tall red haired boy and a tall black haired boy with glasses standing in front of Hermione. It was the red haired boy who had talked.

"She's my cousin," answered Hermione.

"My name is Samantha Granger," Sam introduced herself.

"Ron Weasley."

"Harry Potter."


	7. The Sorting

Chapter Seven  
The Sorting

Samantha nodded to the two boys. She didn't really know what to say, to be honest she was too tired to really care. Jet lag was finally kicking in and Harry seemed to sense Sam's exhaustion.

"Uh, 'Mione I think that you should probably take Samantha up to your dormitories. She looks like she's going to fall asleep standing up. Don't worry about everyone else, Ron and I will handle them," Harry told Hermione flourishing his arms around at the others who were staring intently at Samantha with puzzled expressions.

Hermione led a groggy Sam up the stairs and into her room for the night.

The next morning Samantha couldn't remember how she got to her bed. All she knew was that she warm and comfortable and that someone was trying to take her away from her happy place. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Hermione standing over her, calling her name.

"What?" Sam sleepily asked.

"Its morning,"

"So? Come back after lunch," Samantha whined rolling over and throwing the covers over her head.

"Oh no you don't! Dumbledore wants me to show you around the castle today and you also have to get sorted."

"Surely that can't take all day?" was Samantha's muffled reply as she didn't move from underneath the heavy covers.

"You're right it can't, it could take several. But we were only given today so get up," Hermione commanded pulling the covers off of her and onto the floor before exiting the room.

Sam sleepily sat up and looked around the room. There were four four-poster beds all with red and gold beddings and curtains. There was also a window on the far side of the room and by looking out of it Sam realized that she was high up in the castle. Once she took in her surroundings she got up and dressed and walked out of the room and onto a winding staircase.

She soon came into the room that she vaguely remembered meeting Harry and Ron in. There were more people in the room this morning than there was last night, or at least she thought there were.

Nearly everyone was looking over at her. Samantha had never felt more uncomfortable in all her life. To make matters worse she couldn't see Hermione anywhere. She began to feel like an idiot just standing there looking like a lost dog, but she didn't know what else to do. At that moment she felt someone come up beside her.

"Hermione is already at breakfast if you're looking for her." Samantha jumped at the sound of the voice. She looked over and saw a familiar black headed boy.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you," Harry said.

"That's all right. So um…where did you say Hermione was?"

"At breakfast in the Great Hall, Ron couldn't wait and Hermione always goes down with him," explained Harry.

"Oh." 

"Come on I'll take you there." Samantha nodded and followed Harry out of the common room. They walked in silence for awhile down what seemed like thirty staircases; Sam didn't know what to say. Finally she couldn't stand the uncomfortable silence any longer.

"So I heard that you play Quidditch."

"Yeah…yeah I'm a Seeker. Do you play?" Harry asked.

"No, I prefer to keep both of my feet firmly on the ground. I enjoy watching it though."

Harry laughed at her.

"You sound like Hermione. Mind you she doesn't really like anything about Quidditch."

"She said she was a Quidditch fan though."

"She goes to the matches because Ron and I play. She merely is being a good friend," Harry assured.

"Oh," Sam said. '_Liar_.'

"So what do you do for fun?" asked Harry trying to make small talk.

"Well my friends and I would always go into the town and hang out around there after school."

"You were allowed into the town after school?"

"Yeah, aren't you?"

"No, the closest town is Hogsmead and we can only go there on special weekends."

"How cruel! I don't think I can survive that," Sam groaned.

Harry laughed. "You'll learn to live with it." The two fell into silence again.

"So are Hermione and Ron, like…closer with each other than with you?" Samantha asked breaking the silence although not trying not to offend him.

"Why do you ask?" Harry said as he stopped. Samantha also stopped and turned to look at him.

"Well… it just seemed weird that they would go to breakfast but leave you behind."

"Well they really didn't leave me behind. I volunteered to stay behind. As I said, Ron was getting angry and wanted to go to breakfast. So to answer your question yes, they are much closer to each other than me."

"That's kind of sad," Samantha blurted out.

"Not really."

Samantha raised her eyebrows at Harry after that remark. Harry seeing her confusion explained.

"They're dating; it's only natural for them to be closer," Harry tried to explain.

"Oh!" 

"You really like that word, don't you?" Harry teased as they continued back on their descent to the Great Hall.

"You have no idea how much," Samantha replied. "So why did you volunteer to stay behind?"

"To wait for you," He told her. "Hermione didn't think it appropriate to leave you alone."

"Oh." 

Harry shook his head; that was the fourth time she'd said it since they began their conversation.

The two finally walked into the Great Hall. Samantha upon first glance thought it was one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen, second of course, to Salem's Great Hall.

Harry found Ron and Hermione at one of the long tables in the hall and led Sam to them. Samantha saw Ron wolfing down his food and got grossed out. Harry saw her look of disgust.

"Don't worry you'll get used to the sight," he said as he sat down.

"Before or after I turn anorexic?" was Sam's reply.

"Well hopefully before," replied Harry after chuckling a little.

"Well I see that you two are getting along quite well," Hermione said.

"Yeah it's like we've known each other forever," Sam joked.

"Well that's good," Hermione said not really paying that much attention to what she said.

Samantha sat down and ate her breakfast, trying very carefully to not look at Ron because just the thought of his eating habits made her want to throw up.

In the middle of breakfast the daily owl post came. The hundreds of owls swooping down to deliver packages made Sam jump sending her fork flying.

"Does that always happen?" asked Sam after the owls had left looking around the table for her fork which was currently MIA.

"Yes," Harry, Ron, and Hermione replied. After she was done eating Hermione stood up.

"Come on Samantha, I have to take you up to Professor Dumbledore's office to get sorted."

"Sorted?" Samantha repeated unfamiliar with the term.

"Into one of the Hogwarts houses, there are four; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Huffelpuff, and Slytherin," explained Harry picking up the missing fork and handing it to Sam.

"Well it's a little late for that," She said throwing it on her plate and following Hermione out of the Great Hall.

They walked down the halls in silence making Samantha felt even more uncomfortable than when she did when she was walking with Harry, but then Harry had actually talked with her. Hermione just seemed content to not say anything. The two girls finally reached the stone gargoyle that hid the entrance to the headmaster's office.

"Canary Creams," said Hermione. The gargoyle sprang to life and revealed the spiral staircase. Hermione led the way to the top. She knocked on the door once they reached the top and waited for the professor to allow them entrance. Professor Dumbledore opened the door with a smile on his face.

"Good morning, I trust you slept well," he said standing aside to let the girls in.

"Actually I could use a bit more of it," Samantha said entering his cluttered office. Dumbledore chuckled.

"I don't want to keep you from your tour of the castle any longer than is necessary so we'll just get straight to it. Samantha if you would be so kind to sit on that chair while I put the sorting hat on your head."

Samantha did as she was told. She felt the shabby old hat that Dumbledore had been holding be put on to her head. The hat obviously was made for a male for while it wasn't too big for Samantha's seventeen year-old head, the hat didn't quite fit right either. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the hat started to talk in her ear.

"Ah I have been wondering when I would get to sort you...yes… I see that you are quite independent and cunning as well. Smart and a quick thinker, courageous also and have a thirst to fit in here. Yes you are much like your cousin. Better put you in GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted. Samantha took off the hat and looked at it weirdly.

"That has got to be the most unusual thing that has ever touched me," Samantha said, handing the hat back to Dumbledore.

"I think it best if you started your tour now," Dumbledore said smiling.

_Authors note: Please review! I need to know if people actually want me to continue to write this story or if I'm wasting my time. I won't post another chapter if I don't get some reviews._


	8. Tour

Chapter Eight  
Tour 

The tour of the castle took the entirety of the day much to the annoyance of Sam who at the end of the day didn't remember where they even went. Hermione showed Samantha the most important things about the castle, like where the certain classes are, the infirmary, and the library. Hermione also told Samantha about the trick doors and disappearing steps, as to which Sam fell through anyway.

By dinner time Samantha's head was reeling with all the new information she had acquired during the day, although she remembered most of it wrong, like taking a left down the stairs instead of the right. She was very grateful for the end of the day and even happier when Hermione told her the tour was over and it was time for dinner. Hermione led her to the middle of the Gryffindor table and sat down. The two girls were about to start eating when Ron threw is belongings down in disgust down next to Hermione. Harry sat down quickly after. 

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, looking up at Ron. Ron just grunted sat down and started to pile food onto his plate.

"He was late to Transfiguration and McGonagall gave him extra homework," Harry explained, though not able to conceal his smirk. Hermione nodded in understanding, that was almost a regular occurrence, although it seemed to have almost no effect on Ron since he continued being late.

"So Samantha how was your day?" Harry asked grabbing his fork and digging into the nearby chicken.

"Long," Sam said with a sigh throwing a rueful glance at Hermione. "Its different when you're going through Hogwarts you don't quite realize how big it is, Hermione made it sound like it was nothing." 

"After awhile it doesn't seem so big. Did you get sorted?"

"Yup, I'm a Gryffindor, but umm…does the Sorting Hat talk to everyone its sorting?"

"Well it depends on the person. Some people the hat immediately places, others have to sit for awhile before it decides," explained Hermione with her usual know it all air.

"Why do you ask?" Ron wondered.

"Well…it pointed out some of my characteristics that I already know about and then it said that I am like my cousin, which was really weird."

The trio just shrugged and continued on with their meal, the sorting hat had a propensity to tell the wearer things about themselves, sometimes it was obvious and other times it was a little unnerving.

After dinner they went up into the Gryffindor common room got out their homework and sat in front of the fireplace (in Samantha's case she stared at the fire wondering what her friends were doing at Salem's). Then out of nowhere Harry's face contorted and he cried out in pain grabbing his forehead. Hermione and Ron looked on carefully, while Sam nearly fell in the fire she jolted forward so far.

After a few seconds Harry's body seemed to tense up and he passed out. Samantha looked from Hermione to Ron and back again as they merely just went back to their homework.

"What's wrong with you?" Sam asked getting up and taking a step towards Harry's lifeless form.

"Sam, no!" Hermione warned to her cousin.

"Why?" 

"Because you'll hurt Harry more," Hermione said.

"Huh?" 

"Just- don't ask," Hermione said shaking her head, she didn't have the patience to explain it to Sam right now; she had a pressing Charms essay to complete.

Sam stared at Ron and Hermione in shock; she didn't understand why they were so calm about Harry's sudden collapse. Harry started awake after a few moments and looked around the common room, when his eyes landed on Samantha he kept staring at her. Sam thought he looked like he would scream.

"What is it Harry?" asked Ron casually.

"Voldemort didn't anticipate her coming here," Harry replied without taking his eyes off Sam. Samantha looked utterly confused.

"Who?" 

"Voldemort, he's the dark wizard that killed your parents," explained Hermione rolling her eyes. "Really, how can you be so dim witted about the whole thing?"

"How can you be such a know it all and still have friends?" Sam retorted.

"I don't get it, why would You-Know-Who bother with Samantha, she's just a seventeen year old, muggle born witch?" Ron asked.

"Hey!" Sam said, she was somebody, or at least she had always thought so.

"Why would he bother with a one year old wizard baby?" replied Hermione coolly.

"We know that one Hermione, it's because of the prophecy."

"Yes but it took us five years to figure that one out. Just because Voldemort's plans for Samantha aren't clear to us yet doesn't mean that they aren't there!" Hermione reminded.

"Would someone please explain to me what is going on?" shouted Sam. Ron and Hermione stopped arguing immediately. They both looked at Harry as if telling him to do it.

"You mean no ones told you?" asked Harry.

"Told me what?"

"Voldemort is the greatest Dark Lord that this world has ever seen. He's merciless and cunning, and has a lot of followers. The fact that he came and killed your parents personally means that he has an important plan for you and didn't trust anyone else to do the job, but he failed somewhere in his plan. He failed because he didn't want you to come here."

"Why doesn't he want me here? He could still kill me couldn't he?" Samantha asked trying to let the information sink into her head.

"He doesn't want you here because Dumbledore is here and can protect you, which is why Dumbledore brought you here," said Hermione.

"It's not just because of Dumbledore," whispered Harry.

"What do you mean?" asked Ron.

"Think about it Ron, if Voldemort had wanted her dead then he would have killed her. No, he had plans to use her for something, and by her coming here his plan will fail."

"What plans?" Samantha asked.

"We don't know, but Dumbledore must have some information he's not telling us or else you'd still be in America."

"So the entire reason that Dumbledore wanted me to come to Hogwarts was to foil Voldemort's evil plans," Samantha said beginning to understand.

"It's not the entire reason, he does think you'll be safer here, but it is part of the reason," Harry told her.

"I feel so used," Samantha cried.

"I know the feeling," replied Harry. After a long silence Samantha finally realized something that didn't add up to her.

"Harry how is it that you know so much about Nodleforts plans?"

Hermione and Ron looked at Harry all three wanting to laugh, but both wanting to know also.

"I'm-s-sorry Samantha, but I…I can't tell you that," Harry stuttered, he said too much. Samantha started to say something to try and get Harry to explain more but Hermione interrupted her.

"Don't bother, he won't say anything."

"In fact you're lucky that you've got this much out of him. He usually doesn't say anything at all," said Ron taking the opportunity to lean over and look at Hermione's essay.

"RON!" Hermione said pulling her parchment closer to her.

"I need to talk to Dumbledore, let him know what I saw," said Harry getting up and walking towards the entrance to the common room.

"Harry wait, would you mind if I go with you? I feel like I really need to talk to the headmaster. Find out what else he's been keeping from me." Sam asked getting up and following him.

Harry slowly turned back to look at Samantha. "Samantha I need to speak with him alone. I'm sorry." He then turned and left. Samantha stared angrily at the back of the portrait.

_Authors note: Please review! _


	9. Planning

Chapter Nine

Planning

Zachary Foote found himself standing amongst his fellow Death Eaters once again in the dead of night. Voldemort had called a special meeting.

When Zachary entered the dilapidated house he knew that Voldemort's plan to get the girl had failed. The feeling in the room also told Zachary that the others knew that something was wrong. All of a sudden the far double doors burst open and Voldemort came storming through dragging someone behind him. Any sound that was being made in the room quickly vanished.

The Dark Lord was not happy.

He threw the man he had been dragging into the floor in front of him, then turned to look at his minions.

"My loyal and trustworthy servants," Voldemort's said although his voice was cold, "you all know of my plans for Potter. You also should know that in order for it to go correctly, every little detail had to happen just the way that I-want-it," he said the last part with short pauses between words. "That being said my ever so faithful servant in America failed me, I made one simple little request, and you… you DIDN'T MANAGE TO GET THE GIRL!"

Everyone in the room jumped.

"HOW HARD IS IT TO CONVINCE A SILLY LITTLE GIRL TO STAY IN HER HOMETOWN? HOW HARD IS IT TO MAKE SURE SHE BECOMES ONE OF US?"

Zachary watched the Dark Lord curse the man, whoever he was, several times as he screamed at the cowering figure.

"Please my lord, it was her Headmistress, she convinced the girl to go. I tried," the man pleaded feebly.

Zachary could not believe that the man actually had the stomach to say anything to his master right now. The man was either really brave or really stupid.

"It's the headmistress's fault you say? CRUCIO!" Voldemort kept the curse on his servant until one of his bones cracked. "Do not place the blame for your failure on others! You could have convinced the girl to stay! She was at her weakest when you were speaking with her! Or perhaps you don't want me to succeed? You want Harry Potter to win."

"No my lord, I wish to see all of your endeavors succeed."

"Ah but now we come to a tricky part." Voldemort said thinking out loud. "Because of your failure, I can no longer convince the girl that Harry Potter is the reason her parents are dead. And as you all know that was a crucial part of the plan! So what do you suggest my friend, because if you don't come up with something I won't need you anymore."

"Please, my lord, there may still be time for us to get her to see things our way. She has only just arrived to Hogwarts. She hasn't had time to make new friends. We can still influence her," the man said weakly. Voldemort thought about what he said for a minute.

"Foote can it be done?"

Zachary sighed." I don't know my lord."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a long stretch at best."

"No it's not she's hasn't even been there a week! She still impressionable!" the man shouted in a high pitched tone.

"She's been sorted into Gryffindor and is hanging out around Harry Potter, Dumbledore is sure to have the entire staff watching out for her. And contrary to popular belief, Harry Potter is not stupid, he will realize what we're up to and if by some chance he doesn't Hermione Granger will. If we try to convince the girl to follow our ways, then it will have to be done with the greatest of care and there will be no room for mistakes!" Zachary said knowingly.

Everyone in the room was silent.

"What do you suggest then?" the man asked.

"Something else," was all that Zachary said. Voldemort issued the painful curse to the man one last time before having him dragged into a different room most likely for further punishment. He dismissed his followers with a wave of his hand.

"Foote, stay," he said in a horse tone. Zachary turned to look at his master, wondering what on Voldemort could want with him that required for no one else to be around. Voldemort waited until he was certain that the two of them were alone before speaking.

"Foote I have a mission for you. The most dangerous you have yet to complete. I know that you have already proven yourself, I also know it would please you to prove yourself yet again to those who otherwise disbelieve."  
Zachary grinned.

"So next weekend you will be the head of an attack. It's not going to be a small attack, but rather an attack on someone from Dumbledore's Order. I will give you further information but I trust you will not fail me,"  
Zachary nodded in understanding. "I will not fail you my lord."

"Now leave!"

Zachary turned and apparated out when he could, all the while wondering who he would have to attack and at what side of the scale it would tip in the war.


	10. Samantha's Bad Week

Chapter Ten:

Samantha's Bad Week

It was a little after one in the morning when Harry finally stumbled through the portrait hole, tired and discouraged at the night's events.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Samantha asked from where he sat by the fire. He had come in so quietly that if she hadn't been watching the entrance she would have missed him.

Harry nearly jumped at hearing a voice and turned to see Samantha Ron and Hermione all sitting by the fire anxious to hear his reply. "Not much," Harry replied and he started to make his way over to the boys' dormitory.

"Really? Because you were speaking with him an awfully long time Harry. What possibly could take so long?" Samantha said getting up and standing in front of the staircase, blocking is escape.

Harry just sighed and shook his head. He was tired and frustrated and the last thing he wanted to do this morning was deal with Samantha and her incessant questioning.

"Well?" Samantha prodded.

"What I do is none of your business Sam," Harry replied in a soft tone but he made it clear that he wasn't joking.

"Well it sort of involves me doesn't it? I mean you went to talk to Dumbledore about why I'm really here didn't you?"

"No I didn't. I went to him to speak about what happened before, you know, when I passed out."

"But surely that couldn't take as long as it did." Samantha argued knowing he was keeping something from her.

Harry had had enough. "You know what Samantha I don't have to explain anything to you. So shut up and leave me alone!"

Samantha looked mutinous at his exclamation.

"I'm tired and I want to go to bed. Goodnight!" Harry snapped before forcing his way past her and stomping up the stairs to the boy's dorms.  
Sam just stood there for awhile staring at his retreating figure until he disappeared from sight.

"Well we had better go to bed," said Hermione standing up. Ron nodded in agreement.

"Go to bed?! Aren't you curious as to what he was doing?" Sam asked rushing over to them to stop them from going to the stairs.

"Yes Samantha, we are, but we know that Harry won't tell us. We told you that Harry wasn't going to tell you anything useful, I don't know why we even bothered staying awake-so don't act so surprised that he did just that," Hermione told her cousin.

"But you're wrong Hermione, he did say something useful." Samantha disagreed.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.

"When he said that he spoke to Dumbledore, it wasn't about me and what I learned today-about why I'm here. He said it had to do with when he passed out, but earlier today when he passed out he said that what he saw was that Voldie-what's his face- was angry that I came to Hogwarts. That has to do with me! Harry obviously talked to Dumbledore but it was to tell him something else."

"What exactly are you trying to suggest that Harry was doing Samantha?" Hermione asked with a yawn.

"I don't know yet Hermione, but I'll figure it out," Samantha replied. Hermione just rolled her eyes and headed up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

Samantha looked at Ron wondering what his thoughts were. But Ron just shrugged and went to his respective dorm. Samantha sighed and flopped back into the comfy chair in front of the fireplace trying to think about what it was that Harry had done and why he would keep it a secret.

A few hours later Samantha woke up in the chair that she had sat down in the previous night. She probably would not have awakened if it had not been for Ron incessant shaking.

To say she wasn't happy was an understatement. While she understood that Ron was waking her up so that she wouldn't miss class she was still extremely tired and really did not want to get up.

So the entire day she followed Hermione, Ron, and Harry around to make sure she entered her classes on time without getting lost. However, she was moody and snapped at anyone who asked her a question.

Poor Denis Creevy was the first victim of Sam's temper. He had approached her to ask her a question about her previous school during breakfast, and he walked away with his face covered in oatmeal and pumpkin juice. Needless to say she never answered his question.

After that everyone tried to stay away from her. By the end of the day everyone was glad to go to bed, Samantha nearly crying for joy when she stumbled into her room to see her perfect comfortable bed.

"I missed you!" Sam cried falling onto the feather bed, almost immediately falling asleep. Hermione only rolled her eyes, grabbed her books and went back into the common room

Unfortunately for Samantha things didn't get any better over the weekend. Sam tried her hardest to be nice and approachable- her bed doing wonders for her mood improvement. But it seemed that the more she tried the more the rest of Hogwarts thought she was a lunatic.

It didn't help that every time someone said something that she didn't agree with she would argue with them, a habit she couldn't help. It came to the point that Samantha began to believe that nothing else could possibly go wrong. That was until Sunday afternoon.

Samantha and Hermione were sitting at one of the table's doing their homework when Ron and Harry came down the stairs carrying their brooms. Hermione glanced up at the two and asked, "Is there Quidditch practice today?"

"No we're just going to down to get a little extra practice ourselves," was Ron's reply.

"Do you mind if I go and watch? I finished my homework and am bored out of my mind," said Samantha standing up and looking at the two boys expectantly.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders indicating that he didn't care, Ron however became uncomfortable.

"Uh actually, I…uh… would prefer if you didn't. You see um… people have already stopped speaking with us, because of you," said Ron carefully. Samantha's eyes shot daggers.

"What? That's a stupid reason to not be around me!"

"Actually Samantha it makes sense," interrupted Hermione shutting her book and taking the usual know it all air that she perfected since she was three.

Samantha turned sharply and glared intensely at her cousin, indicating for her to continue.

"Well you haven't exactly been the easiest person to get along with. I mean you're constantly getting into a fight with someone over something incredibly dumb."

"If it annoys you so much why are you still hanging around me?" Sam asked crossing her arms indignantly.

"First of all you are hanging around us. Second I am putting up with you and your odd behavior because you have been through a lot in the past couple of weeks."

"Odd behavior? This is my personality sweetheart, get used to it."

"Samantha be reasonable, you have not given any one a reason to like you. Don't expect for everyone to put up with your madness!" Hermione warned. 

"I don't Hermione! I did however; expect to get some support from you! I know we never heard of each other before, but we are cousins! I guess I expected too much."

"Samantha I really honestly and truly am sorry for all that you've had to go through, but give us some credit. It wasn't easy having to accept you here."

"You know what Hermione I don't want your pity! I don't want anyone's pity! And you have not accepted me yet, because if you had we would not be having this argument!" Samantha took in a deep breath and exhaled. "I guess the only other thing that I have to say is that if you don't want to be around me, then I will keep my communication to a minimum." With that said she walked out of the common room.

Harry looked between his two best friends, before shaking his head.

"Well I guess that takes care of our problem," said Ron. Hermione nodded in agreement.

Harry scowled. "What?"

"What do you mean what?" Ron asked confused.

"Ron the girl has just lost her parents to Voldemort. She hasn't even been here a week and no one wants to even give her the time of day. She needs friends. I can't imagine how hard any of this is on her, have any of you seen her cry over her parents, or scream about how she wishes she had stayed at her old school?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ron asked.

"Ron, people usually aren't okay when so much stuff has happened. She is keeping her emotions bottled and that's not healthy. She needs to have someone who she can talk to."

"Harry I can't believe what I'm hearing. Why are sticking up for her? She's a nightmare!" Ron exclaimed.

"I remember a time when you said the exact same thing about Hermione." Harry then walked out of the common room to go look for Samantha.

"But what about Quidditch?" Ron asked looking at his broom.  
Hermione shrugged and went back to her book.

_Authors note: Please review!! I would really appreciate the feedback. _

_Disclaimer: So I'm stupid and just realized that I haven't put a disclaimer on this so here it is. I do not own Harry Potter or anything like that. The only original thing is my character Samantha and pieces of the plot. _


	11. Yelling at Snape

Chapter Eleven  
Yelling at Snape

The next week was nothing more than a blur for Samantha. And she became eternally grateful for Harry's kindness because without him she would have been late to almost all of her classes. By midweek everyone in the castle knew that Ron and Hermione weren't on speaking terms with Samantha but Harry was.

This led to a lot of assumptions and even more ridiculous rumors. The rumors evidently led Samantha into even more arguments with the other students. She talked to the only person who would listen, though Harry didn't know what to say to her and in the end was very little help saying. "I can't help stupid people who have nothing better to do but gossip about my non-existent love life." And he was sad about the nonexistence of it.  
But the students of Hogwarts were only a part of her nightmare, there were the classes. When she was finally able to find them on her own, she found that in some respects Salem's was a bit behind Hogwarts on subjects.  
Samantha was thrust into learning material that Salem's would not have gone into until the next semester. When it became apparent to Sam that she was expected to know what the teachers were talking about she started to hyperventilate so badly that Harry had to rush her to the hospital wing.  
After that incident Sam was forced to confide in Harry her problem. Harry just smiled and told her that he would help her to the best of his ability, and he meant it.

By the time Friday morning came around Samantha was counting down the minutes till the weekend, 1024. But to start the terrible finale to her weekend she woke up late, spilled pumpkin juice on her white shirt at breakfast, and got lost on her way to Transfigurations, which she didn't know was still a possibility. Then she lost her homework for Herbology and received extra homework because of it, the properties of Grenishes. When it was time for lunch Samantha was ready to crawl back in bed.

"Are you alright Sam?" Harry asked sitting down next to her at the Gryffindor table. Samantha, who had her head lying in arms, shook her head.

"What's wrong?" He asked piling food on his plate being careful not to get any on her sleeve.

Sam slowly lifted her head and pulled at her long black hair in agitation. "Today sucks. I never should have gotten up; in fact I think I should go back to bed." Harry looked at her and shook his head. She inhaled deeply and sighed. "I know, but I have potions next." She said this while putting her head back down into her arms.

Harry just smiled at her. "Don't worry, I have potions next too, we can suffer together." Samantha laughed and then before she knew it lunch was over.

Harry dragged Samantha down to the dungeons with Samantha moaning and whining and begging him to let her go to her room. When they entered the potions classroom they were some of the first to arrive allowing them to sit down in the very back of the room and waited for class to start. The rest of the class slowly filed in, Neville and Seamus giving them dirty looks as they passed, nobody liked to sit in the front, least of all them. Then, unfortunately the beginning of class was signaled when Professor Snape stalked in and slammed the doors behind him.

"The directions are on the board." He said sneering at Sam and Harry, Sam banged her head on the table. "If there are any of you in this class that are competent enough to brew this potion we'll find out at the end of class."  
Everyone grabbed the ingredients needed and started work. Half way through the class Snape came by Samantha and Harry's table. He sneered at Harry's potion (it was too thin), then looked at Samantha's potion and rolled his eyes.

"Well, Ms. Granger, it seems that your old school hasn't taught you enough about potion making," Snape said while examining her potion.

Samantha glared at him. She was quite certain that it was a correctly made potion, it just wasn't done yet and she knew he knew it.

"With all due respect sir, if I haven't brewed this potion right, then the fault doesn't lie entirely with my old school, but it also lies with you," Samantha said a matter-of-factly. Everyone gasped and immediately drew their attention towards Samantha and Snape. Harry covered his mouth with his hand to keep his smile from showing.

"FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR!" Snape bellowed. "How dare you speak to me like that! The reason your potion is so dismal is that your potion skills are pathetic at best!"

Samantha smiled wickedly. "Well excuse me Professor but potions happened to be my best subject at Salem's! The only reason that any one can't do well in your class is because instead of actually teaching us something, you insult us and intimidate us.

"I beg your pardon." Snape said leaning in the table. Harry swore Snape was going to kill her.

"So instead of insulting us why don't you teach us and stop wasting our time!" Samantha was now on her feet staring directly at Snape. Their staring contest lasted almost a minute before Snape finally spoke.

"One hundred points from Gryffindor, and one month of detention Ms. Granger. I expect your attitude to change by the next class." Snape growled.

"My attitude will change when yours does." Sam snapped back. Everyone gasped, Ron and Hermione looked at each other and frowned, they were getting into uncharted territory. They all clearly thought Samantha was mental for continuing the argument.

"Samantha, shut up! You've done enough!" shouted Hermione. Samantha turned her glare towards her cousin for a brief moment then turned backed to Snape for her final revelation.

"You might want to put in the badger's eyes before the potion overheats and explodes. After all you wouldn't want everyone in the class to start sprouting out insects," Samantha said as she grabbed her bag and walked out of the class without bothering to clean up her unfinished potion. The doors slammed shut behind her.

Everyone in the classroom was silent, all staring at the spot that Samantha had just vacated. Harry didn't know what to think; in fact he wanted to laugh. In all his years at Hogwarts no one had stood up to Snape like that.

Yet Samantha didn't seem to care, if Samantha had one major falling is that she spoke before she thought, if she hated someone, they knew it. He could only imagine what would happen if someone got onto Samantha's bad side and wasn't someone of higher authority, as if that seemed to matter much.

"Get back to work!" shouted Snape turning around to see everyone staring.

The rest of the class jumped back to their potions and there were immediate whispers about Samantha's behavior. Harry just shook his head and finished his potion in silence, he would laugh later.

By the end of the day the entire school knew about Samantha and Snape's confrontation that was all anyone was talking about and the people in the class were giving detailed descriptions of what happened, some of which were inaccurate. But Samantha had in one hour become even more unpopular with her house mates because of the obscene amount of house points lost, it had seemed impossible but it happened.

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw applauded her for yelling at Snape and even more amazed that she was alive to tell the tale. Not wanting to deal with everyone at dinner Samantha decided to skip it, even though she was hungry. It was six o'clock and Sam was sitting alone in the Gryffindor common room counting the hours to breakfast when Harry walked in carrying two plates. Sam gave him a weird look as he sat down on the chair next to hers.

"That had better be for me." She said referring to the two plates of food.

"I thought you might be hungry, so I brought our dinners here," Harry said while handing her a plate.

Samantha took it without question. "Thank you."

The two ate in silence for awhile.

"Why did you do that?" Harry asked forking a large piece of chicken. Samantha looked down at her plate in silence. She knew that Harry was asking about her behavior in Potions class but she decided to pretend to not know what he was referring to.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, today in potions class." Harry told her giving her a look.

"What about it?"

Harry stared at her incredulously. "Samantha you yelled at Snape! No one has ever yelled at Snape, at least not the way that you did today. I'm surprised you got off as easily as you did. Why did you do it?" 

"Because Harry, I'm tired of everyone making my life hell just because I'm different! Who freaking cares if I'm an American or not, well besides me? Besides I was already having a shitty day and Snape criticizing me did not help at all. I mean come on the man does not teach us how to brew the potions he expect us to know how to do right the first time that we have ever seen the instructions to! And I know that my potion was correct. I've seen it done before. That was exactly how it was supposed to look! That…that…that imbecile doesn't know what he's talking about!" Samantha ranted before shoving a forkful of green beans in her mouth.

Harry just smiled at her. She's cute when she's angry, he thought then frowned. Did I just think that? No, she's Hermione's cousin, she's Hermione's cousin,

"Sorry Harry, it's just I'm so frustrated. I miss Salem's; I can't help but think that I made the wrong choice about coming here." Sam finished completely oblivious to Harry's inner debate and the way he was staring at her.

"Samantha, if it's any consolation, I'm glad you came here."

"Really?" 

"Yeah," 

"Really, really?" Sam asked again.

"Really." 

"Aw, thanks Harry, that's sweet of you."

Harry nodded and Sam smiled. Their intimate moment was shattered by the portrait hole opening and half of the Gryffindor population filing in.

"Well, I'm going to go to bed, good night Harry," said Samantha standing up after seeing all the dirty looks.

"Good-night Samantha."

Harry watched her go up the girl's staircase before collecting their plates. Ron and Hermione sat down by him as he was about to get up. The three friends looked at each other. It was extremely awkward and uncomfortable. Finally Harry waved his wand and made the dishes disappear before walking up to bed, explaining his feeling for one of his best friends cousins was not something that would go over well.

The next day Harry woke up early to get a head start on his homework for the weekend. He was up for about two hours and halfway through his Transfiguration essay when his scar started to burn. Knowing what this meant Harry thanked his lucky stars that it was Saturday and no one else was up yet to see him leave, he didn't want to be bombarded with questions. However what he didn't realize was that Samantha watched him walk off of the school grounds from her dormitory window, wondering where he had to go. But as she was thinking about it, more was added to the puzzle when she saw Professor Snape follow soon after.

_Authors Note: PLEASE REVIEW!!!! I won't post the next chapter unless I get at least five (that number does not include my beta-reader who reviews every chapter!)_

_Also many thanks to Skyler VonDetton for beta reading and reviewing every chapter! Love ya chica!_

_I would also like to thank all of you have reviewed my previous chapters! I really appreciate the feedback! _


	12. Friend or Foe

CHAPTER 12:

_B/E: Hello all, this is DragonHeart's Editor, Skyler, and I would like to say that I am ashamed of how many people read this without reviewing! It's not that hard to press a button and type a few words. So, that's all I have to say about that, because she's too nice to say it._

_A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Both my beta and I have had computer trouble. In fact this hasn't been completely edited, but I figured that it has been long enough since my last chapter, and I don't know when my beta will get hers fixed. So on with the story and please review!!_

Zachary Foote was waiting with his fellow Death Eaters for the Dark Lord to appear. They had been summoned unexpectedly, from the whisperings around the circle no one knew what this impromptu meeting was about. Foote was a little scared to find out. When Lord Voldemort finally appeared seemingly out of nowhere the look on his face was disturbing to all, it was one of seeming happiness.

"Welcome all, I know our little gathering today was called on short notice, but something came up. A few of you have voiced your unease over the amount of trust that we could place upon another member. To rectify this I have arranged a little test. Foote come forward," said Voldemort in his slithery voice. Foote slowly walked forward, knowing he was the one that would have to prove himself, again. He knelt down and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes.

"Now my faithful servant, you have a task to accomplish to prove that you are truly one of us. It will not be a simple task, and you might have to expose yourself to that fool Dumbledore, but the outcome should come help our cause greatly. As you well know the Weasley family is large and all of the adults are in Dumbledore's Order, you Foote have to kill as many as you can tonight. It should be quite simple for you to get to most of them as they will all be at their pathetic excuse for a house. Of course you can't kill all of them as the two youngest are still in Hogwarts, but that can be dealt with later. We all will meet you in the field behind the Weasley house at ten o'clock. You are dismissed." Foote slowly rose to his feet. He was supposed to attack the Weasley's! This mission was by far the most dangerous one the Dark Lord has asked him to do. Not only was he risking his life but also risking the fact that if Dumbledore found out he was a Death Eater he would be useless to the Dark Lord. Foote shuddered to think what would happen if it came to that.

"Oh and Foote, if you don't show up and do an adequate job I will kill you, so don't disappoint me!"

"Yes my Lord," said Foote bowing. With a million different thoughts of how horribly wrong this could turn out running through his head, Foote disappeared from the small clearing in Scotland to go home and prepare for tonight.

When Harry returned from where ever he went, Samantha was sitting in the common room doing her homework. He went upstairs so that he would be less likely to be disturbed. Samantha watched his back as he went up the stairs. She knew that he was up to something, probably dangerous, and she wanted to know what it was. Knowing that he would have to come back down the stairs to leave Gryffindor tower, she decided to confront him later. Later turned out to be at nine-thirty at night.

Harry walked down the boy stairs with his school bag hanging from his right shoulder. He walked confidently towards the portrait hole, looking as if he were going to the library to study. Samantha did not buy his ruse, mainly because she could see all his homework on the table where he had been working on it that morning. She quickly got up and blocked his path.

"Where are you going Harry?" she asked.

"I need to go to the library for some research," he said trying to walk around her. Samantha hindered his way again.

"Can I come with you?"

"Er, no…no I er… need to do this project alone."

"I won't help you with it."

"Yeah well, I get distracted with others around me when I do my homework, and I really need to get this assignment done so, I'd prefer to go alone." He tried walking around her again, but once again Samantha stepped in front of him.

"What class is it for?"

"You don't have it."

"You only have one class that I don't have and that's Care of Magical Creatures, what could you possibly have to do in that class that would require that much concentration?"

"Samantha please move. I really have to go!" said Harry getting frustrated, knowing that Samantha knew he was lying.

"Look Harry you and I both know that you are not going to the library or to Dumbledore's, like tell everyone else, so just tell me where you are going and I'll get out of your way." Harry glared at her.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I am forbidden to! Why can't you people just accept that! Besides if you knew where I was going it would only upset you. So please move."

"No, not until you tell me." By now Harry was really frustrated.

"Samantha if you do not move I _will_ hex you! I know some pretty good ones too!" Harry glared down at her. She didn't move.

"So do I."

Harry growled in frustration.

"MOVE SAMANTHA! I don't want to hurt you!" Harry shouted.

She just stared at him with her arms crossed over her chest. Before Samantha could react Harry pulled out his wand and jinxed her. Samantha's knees buckled and she fell to the floor, unable to move.

Because Harry hadn't said anything she couldn't figure out what spell he had used on her, all she knew was that she would be lying there for quite some time (the common room being empty as it was this time of day). Harry gave her an apologetic look before walking out of the portrait hole.

Zachary Foote almost did not make it to the meeting place on time. He came running up to the small circle of Death Eaters with one minute to spare. He was panting and trying to catch his breath when the cold ruthless voice of Lord Voldemort reached his ears.

"I almost thought you weren't going to show Foote. That would have been very foolish."

"I am a true follower of your ways my lord. If I must prove myself once again then I will do so," Foote replied.

"Good, then you should have no trouble with killing the Weasley's as they are treacherous and don't deserve the title of pureblood. Go Foote, and remember the attack must be to my satisfaction."

Foote nodded and slowly walked towards the Burrow. He couldn't believe he had been put in this position. It was defiantly not something he wanted to do. Quite the opposite really. Especially since the Weasley's had been nothing but kind to him in all the years of knowing him. With the exception of Percy, but then Percy always was a rite foal git.

All day he had been pondering how he was going to pull of an attack without actually attacking the Weasley's and yet still make it believable to the Dark Lord.

He had actually almost gone to Dumbledore for advice but knowing that Voldemort was watching him closely knew that he wouldn't be able to converse with the Order's leader. That was the reason he was walking slowly now, to give himself more time to think of a plan of action. He knew the Weasley's would not recognize him, so he knew that there was the possibility of being hurt by them. Even though Foote really was on the side of good, Dumbledore wanted to keep his role in the Order low key. This resulted in very few people knowing of his participation in the Order. His purpose was simply to spy on Voldemort, and so far he had succeeded.

He finally reached the back door of the Weasley home. He could hear laughter inside and yearned to be in there laughing with them. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He was terrified beyond reckoning, not for the safety of his own life, but for the fact that he could not be absolutely certain that they would believe him with his disguise. For all they knew he was a Death Eater. Finally gathering enough courage he opened the door and walked inside.

Voldemort had been right, almost all of the Weasley family was there. The only one's who weren't, were Ron, Ginny, and Percy. They did not notice him at first. In fact it was Fleur who saw him and gave out a piercing shriek after one look at his dark, hooded, cloak and mask. They all had their wands out and pointed at him faster than Harry imagined possible. He was quickly disarmed and pushed to the ground. After getting his bearings back, Foote realized that it had been Fred and George who had attacked him. They had a rather funny looking gadget pressed up against his throat as a weapon and held his second wand in their hands.

"Who are you and what do you want with us?" asked Mr. Weasley sharply.

"Please, I mean you no harm…"

"Ha that's rich; I must say I have never heard that one before."

"Yeah, no Death Eater doesn't mean people harm."

"I was sent here to kill you."

"See we told you…"

"But I don't want to! If you want to live and keep Harry Potter alive you have to do exactly as I say."

"What does Harry have to do with you being here?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"He'll be killed if you don't follow my instructions."

"Why has he been taken?" asked Charlie.

"No, but…"

"Then why should we believe you?"

"Because it's the truth! Listen it's a simple plan, all you have to do is make a lot of noise you know scream and stuff, let me stun a few of you, and call the ministry."

"We already have called the ministry. You'll be going to Azkaban for sure."

"Listen to me carefully, if I go to Azkaban, you will be killed and I will be let out anyway. So just do as I say."

"Why should we listen to you?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"Because it's the only way. Now let me up!" Foote was getting impatient. He knew that it would only be so long before the others knew something wasn't right. He had very little time to execute his plan, unfortunately he didn't expect Fred and George to be so quick and he defiantly did not want to know what it was that they were threatening him with.

"Let him go George," said Bill. It was the first time he spoke. His family looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Don't tell me you actually believe him!" shouted Fred incredulously.

"I don't know what to think Fred. But he can't be all bad."

"What do you mean he can't be all bad? He's a _Death Eater_!"

"If he had wanted to kill us, he wouldn't have waited for us to notice his presence and would not have been taken down without a fight."

"That doesn't mean that he's not dangerous!"

"I know, but we have his wand and we out number him so if he does try anything we'll be ready. Now let him up." George slowly let go of Foote. He stood up slowly and straightened his robes.

"Thanks, now I need you to do exactly as I say…"

"Wait you still have not given us a reason to trust you!" Foote sighed. He had hoped that it would not have gotten this far. He really did not want to hurt them.

"I can't prove it to you."

"Then why should we do what you want?" All of the Weasley's looked at him expectantly. Foote shook his head.

"Then you leave me no choice. EXPELIARMUS!" He shouted the last bit. The Weasley's were all shocked, not because of the spell, but because he disarmed all of them using wandless magic. Once they came back to their senses they all started yelling at him. Fred and George even went as far as throwing anything they could at him. Foote deflected the items easily now that he had his second wand back. He turned to Fred and George first.

"I'm really sorry for this mates, but it's for your own good." He sent to stunners their way. They fell to the ground in a heap. Mrs. Weasley started screaming even louder and the other Weasley's renewed their defensive attacks with renewed vigor. Foote fought them off without doing much retaliation, but still managed to stun when he deemed it was necessary. Not too much time had passed when he heard aurors coming through the Weasley's garden. He pocketed his wand and looked at the Weasley family.

"Please, before passing judgment on my actions today, I beg of you to speak to Dumbledore about me."

"Dumbledore?"

"Yes, he knows me, and the reason for my actions. Once again I am terribly sorry for what I have done, but I must also ask you to keep what Dumbledore tells you a secret. Don't let anyone know that I let you live, or I will die." The ministry officials came running into the Weasley's living room. Foote put his hands up and surrendered quietly.

"Wait! What's your name?" asked Bill.

"Foote, Zachary Foote." He was put in shackles and led out of the house by aurors. He looked back into the meadow and saw the shadow of a smiling Voldemort.


	13. Return

Chapter Thirteen

Return

Samantha tried to wait up for Harry but ended up falling asleep on the couch in the Gryffindor common room instead. When the rest of the castle started moving about that Sunday morning was when Samantha woke up. She looked around and saw no sign that Harry had come back.

Not wanting to go up to the boy's dormitory to see if he was there, she decided to sit and wait for him to come down. Samantha ended up finishing her homework for the weekend and actually got a head start on her other assignments as well. Though by the time she rolled up her last bit of homework and stuffed it into her bag she was extremely worried.

It was almost dinner time and Harry had yet to make an appearance that day. After sitting around for another hour, with her anxiety rising every minute she decided to go down to diner and see if he was there. She only needed to take one overview of the Great Hall to see that he wasn't. With her hope sinking she decided to ask Ron and Hermione about him. So she slowly made her way to the Gryffindor table.

"Hey listen, have you seen Harry today?" she asked once she was standing next to them.

"No we thought he was with you, considering you're always together," replied Ron with his mouth full.

Samantha's heart felt like it had dropped into the bottommost part of her stomach. She was too worried about Harry to notice Ron's horrible manners. Samantha didn't know where Harry was but it couldn't be good to have kept him gone so long.

"Oh okay then…if you see him around will you tell him that I'm looking for him?" she asked hoping they couldn't hear the disappointment in her voice.

"Sure," replied Ron wanting only to get back to his food. Hermione however seemed to sense that something was wrong, knowing that Samantha would only ask if she was desperate.

"Samantha why do you want to know if we've seen Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Because I want to know if you think his clothes match today!" Sam said, her voice dripping with sarcasm from her the stress. "I haven't seen him today Hermy, that's why I asked."

"Do not call me Hermy! He's probably off doing whatever it is that he always disappears for. Don't worry he'll show up again."

"Whatever." Samantha said and went back to Gryffindor Tower not feeling hungry anymore. She hoped with all her being that Hermione was right and Harry would be back soon.

Unfortunately Harry didn't come back that night. Nor did he come back the next day or the day after that.

Samantha was really worried now, her earlier mental talks with herself becoming less reassuring by the hour. In fact her frantic side seemed to be coming out more and more. She even went as far as to think that Snape had killed him that morning that she saw them both leave the school grounds, completely forgetting that she had seen Harry after that.

Ron and Hermione, she could see, were both worrying more for their friend as the week continued. As Wednesday night rolled around Samantha found herself going through Harry's homework and his actual school bag looking for something to tell her where he was. Ron and Hermione found her in the process of slamming down the last of Harry's papers in frustration.

"Damn it, Harry where the fuck are you?" shouted Samantha.

"Shouting at him is not going to help Samantha," said Hermione. Ron and Hermione both walked over to where Samantha was almost having a mental breakdown.

"Tell me something useful will ya!" snapped Sam.

"Okay you're not going to find him that way," said Ron indicating all the papers she had just gone through. Samantha glared at him.

"No shit Sherlock. Tell me something I don't know."

"What's a Sherlock?" asked Ron

"Ronald! You want to know something useful? Well then here it is, don't go to Dumbledore about it," replied Hermione.

Samantha looked appalled. She was angry at herself for not thinking of that in the first place, and astounded that Hermione could suggest not doing the one thing that made the most sense. After all Dumbledore had to have been behind his last disappearance right? So he should know about this one.

"Why not? I mean Harry has been gone since late Saturday night wouldn't he want to know?" Samantha asked puzzled at the backwards advice.

"Because we just came from him. He wouldn't tell us anything, only that Harry had done something for him and not everything went according to plan. We were reassured however, that Harry was safe and would be back before we know it."

Hermione was clearly not pleased with the headmaster's explanation and didn't believe that Harry was alright. Samantha was torn. How could such a sweet old man put Harry's life in danger when that Moldywart person was after him?

"So what do we do?" asked Samantha.

"We wait for the response from Harry's godfather. It should tell us if anyone else knows about his disappearance. And put pressure on Dumbledore to do something about it," said Hermione.

Samantha was even more confused. Since when did Harry have a godfather? And who was he? And when did they write to him?

"You'll let me know when he replies right?" asked Sam, pretending she knew what Hermione was talking about.

"Yes." It was at this point that Samantha noticed that Ron had not said very much.

"Ron, are you okay? Normally you never shut up," Samantha asked.

"You said that Harry left Saturday night?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that he left Saturday night?"

"Because I watched him walk out of the portrait hole, as he gave me the crappy excuse of 'I need to go the library', at nine-thirty at night!" Samantha exclaimed. She was obviously not very happy about what occurred that night. Ron looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Ron you don't think that Harry was involved in…" Hermione started to ask.

"I don't think so, but now I'm not so sure. I mean anything could have happened."

"But your family didn't see him did they? I mean he wasn't mentioned in the letter."

"But that doesn't mean he wasn't there Hermione." Samantha was now thoroughly confused. What did Ron's family have to do with Harry disappearing?

"What are you talking about?" Samantha asked, looking between the two. Hermione and Ron looked at each other before answering.

Hermione just shrugged and said, "It's up to you Ron if you want her to know."

"My family was attacked by a Death Eater on Saturday night," said Ron slowly and quietly. Samantha gasped in surprise and her hands flew to cover her mouth.

"Oh my god Ron, are they alright?" she asked from behind her hands, concern evident in her voice. She didn't exactly know what Death Eaters were but they sounded dangerous and the title was combined with 'attack' so she correctly assumed that they were bad and the situation was dangerous.

"Yeah, no one was hurt. Though it could have been really bad considering nearly everyone was there."

"Well that's good."

"Yeah, but kind of suspicious, I mean a trained Death Eater didn't harm them. Why wouldn't he harm them?" By this point Ron seemed to be talking to himself rather than anyone else. Samantha stood there staring at him as if he was crazy.

"Sooo, when do you expect the response from Harry's godfather?" Samantha asked, interrupting Ron's ramblings. Hermione thought for a moment.

"Tomorrow at the earliest, we sent the letter after our meeting with Dumbledore. He lives in London so it will take awhile to get there."

"What if he already knows Harry is missing and can't do anything about it? What do we do then?" asked Samantha trying to think of all possible outcomes.

"If he knew he would have contacted us already."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because he would do anything to protect Harry. Trust us Samantha, writing to Harry's godfather was our best option."

"I hope you're right."

That night Samantha got very little sleep and the sleep she did get was plagued with nightmares. She kept dreaming of a large, empty, run down room. The walls had missing stones and there were scorch marks everywhere. She kept seeing Ron and Hermione fighting off people with masks on with a large group of people. Then she saw Harry dueling with the man who had killed her parents.

The man was obviously trying to kill Harry but Harry seemed to be trying to hold him off. The two battles would increase in their ferocity until a tall man with long, shaggy hair and a gaunt look to him came running in and Samantha would feel herself run up to him and they would converse. However, she could not hear what they were saying in the dream. They would talk and he would hand her something small, but radiated evil. She would just get this object in her hand when she would wake up.

Samantha didn't know what the dream meant, but it plagued her that night.

The next day Samantha didn't want to go to class, or even get out of bed, but Hermione lectured her about acting normally or people would be suspicious. Samantha argued back that acting normally would be suspicious when someone you care about is missing. In the end Hermione won on the grounds that if Samantha didn't go to class, she would tell Professor McGonagall that Samantha was ditching. Not wanting to add to her detention (which started that night) Samantha reluctantly started her day.

It was a considerably normal day, considering the circumstances. Everyone seemed to be acting normally, and most didn't seem to think that Harry's disappearance was anything to worry about. Of course there were the select few who did notice Harry's longer than usual departure, like Draco Malfoy, who used it for his normal taunts.

Dean and Seamus actually had to drag Samantha away from Pansy Parkinson to keep her from pummeling the Slytherin girl after hearing what the girl said about Harry.

By dinnertime Samantha was in a _really_ fowl mood. She sat down and as she did so she heard more taunts from the Slytherins about Harry. She couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but that was probably a good thing. After the Slytherin's laughter subsided somewhat she filled her plate and proceeded to vent her anger by taking her fork and stabbing the food that she had just grabbed. It was in this act that Ron and Hermione found her.

"What are the potatoes not to your liking?" asked Ron, looking at her now mashed pile of potatoes.

Samantha stopped long enough to glare at Ron and look back down to examine her food before she found some that she had not efficiently gouged yet and proceeded to do so. Hermione shook her head and grabbed Samantha's stabbing hand to stop her.

"Samantha, stop! Listen the reason we're here is because we got a reply from Harry's godfather," Hermione whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" asked Samantha loudly, as she tried to fight for control of her hand.

"I'll tell you once we go to a safe place to talk about it," replied Hermione through gritted teeth, still fighting with Samantha.

"Fine, be that way," said Samantha dropping her fork and standing up. "Led the way oh wise one."

Hermione, Ron, and Samantha went to the Gryffindor Common Room to read the letter. They made themselves comfortable in front of the fire. Hermione quickly opened the letter and started to read.

"Dear Hermione and Ron, first I must say that I am glad you wrote to me about Harry disappearing. Secondly, I unfortunately do not know where he is or why he is disappearing. You see your letter was the first time I had heard of Harry ever vanishing at anytime. I will do what I can to find out what happened to him and let you know when I get some answers. Hopefully Dumbledore will be more willing to tell a very pissed off me what Harry has been up to more than he was with you two. If you hear anything about Harry then let me know immediately. I'll do what I can on my side. Sincerely, Snuffles," read Hermione.

The three of them sat in silence for a long time.

"So, he didn't know about it at all," Samantha finally said.

"Gee Granger nothing gets past you," said Ron sarcastically.

"That worries me," said Hermione before Samantha could respond to Ron.

"Why?"

"Because if Harry couldn't even tell Si… his godfather then something is defiantly wrong."

"What are we going to do?" asked Samantha. "I mean, it doesn't seem he can help much."

"I don't know," replied Hermione.

The next day was almost a repeat of the previous day. Hermione nearly had to hex Samantha to get her out of bed. Classes were a pain in her ass and she punched a Slytherin for saying that Harry was as good as dead by now. By dinner time she was hoping for Hermione or Ron to come tell her that Harry's godfather had wrote with news. She was also sort of looking forward to her second detention that night.

Samantha figured she could torment whoever was supervising her. After all, if she was in a fowl mood why should anyone else be happy? After diner had ended she went up to the Common Room to quickly drop off her things and then go to her detention.

She had detention tonight with Snape cleaning his potions cabinets without magic. Samantha didn't really think of this as much of a punishment considering that she did it like that at home with her potions summer assignments.

When she got there Snape quickly told her what to do, directed her where to go, and then proceeded to lock himself in his office, so that Samantha couldn't talk to him. She decided to be nice and not mess with the labels. She wouldn't have switched them or anything. No she would have decorated them with little butterflies, and flowers, and hearts, and girly things like that.

When she was finally released from her detention she slowly made her way up to Gryffindor Tower. As she was about to reach the corridor where the portrait of the fat lady was she heard voices.

"…sorry it took so long, but under the circumstances it was the best that I could do," said the distinct voice of the headmaster.

"It's alright; I kind of expected to be in there longer to be honest. Am I still going to the meetings?"

"Yes, come up with a convincing story."

"Yes, sir. Thank you again sir."

"Not at all, now I suggest you get some sleep."

Samantha decided now was a good time to go around the corner. Professor Dumbledore was turning down another corridor, but the other person she saw shocked her. Standing in the middle of the corridor was Harry Potter.

Samantha was overjoyed at the fact that he was back and alive. After that feeling passed she became extremely livid.

_**Beta Editors Note: READ MEEE!!!!!**_

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_**Sincerely, with all the most evil intentions if my demands are not met,**_

_**Skyler**_

_A/N: So yeah it won't be too long of wait since my beta actually edited more than one chapter. But I would appreciate some reviews! Please and thank-you!! DragonHeart_


	14. A Sirius Conversation

Chapter Fourteen

A Sirius Conversation

"HARRY POTTER WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?" screamed Samantha standing in the middle of the hall.

Harry jumped and turned suddenly, startled that anyone was still awake. It was then that Samantha took in his appearance. He was wearing some ragged clothes that were covered in dirt and filth.

He definitely looked tired and hungry.

"Samantha, what are you doing out at this time of night?" asked Harry suppressing a yawn.

"Serving my detentions. What are you doing?" Samantha asked crossing her arms.

"Please Sam, I don't want to go into it right now," said Harry tiredly. He then turned and walked into the Gryffindor Common Room.

Samantha followed him quickly. Harry was back and she was going to make him explain his disappearance. And she didn't care if he fell asleep while telling it!

"Don't you walk away from me! I want answers, so start talking Potter!_ Where have you been_?" Samantha snapped following close behind him.

"Samantha, will you keep your voice down?"

"NO I WILL NOT KEEP MY VOICE DOWN! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" Samantha shrieked.

"I can't tell you."

By now others had come down to see what the shouting was about. People were starting to whisper about Harry. Ron and Hermione both came running down from their respective dorms when they heard that Harry was back.

"Harry, where were you?" asked Hermione, once her and Ron fought their way through to the front. Harry sighed heavily at the question.

"I can't tell you," replied Harry.

"You've been gone for almost a week and all you can say is 'I can't tell you'! Blimey Harry, do you know how worried we've been? My god I was actually nice to Samantha, Harry! SAMANTHA! And after all that you give us the same piss poor excuse that you always do! No..this is… I can't… you…URGH!" said Ron in frustration.

"I'm sorry, I truly am, but there is nothing that I can do about it. I am forbidden to tell anyone." Harry tried to explain.

"Harry, I don't care if you aren't going to tell us why you were gone so long. Just promise us that whatever it is that you are doing it will stop. Promise that after tonight you won't do it anymore," pleaded Hermione.

"I can't Hermione. I can't just stop."

"Why not?" asked Samantha getting angrier by the second.

"Sam, I can't tell you."

"My name is SA-MAN-THA. Until you have the balls to be a man and tell the truth, you don't get to call me Sam. Only people I trust are allowed to call me Sam," said Samantha stubbornly. Harry looked at her flabbergasted.

"Look it's not my decision. I don't have a choice in this."

"Were you asked to do whatever the hell it is your doing?" asked Samantha.

"Yes."

"And you agreed to it?"

"Obviously."

"But you could have said no?"

"Yes, I could have said no."

"Then you have a choice Harry! So don't go saying it isn't your choice."

"It isn't…" Harry started to defend himself.

Samantha however was getting sick of the "its not my fault, my life is hard, no one understands me" answers. So she interrupted him by punching him square in the jaw, hard.

Harry's head flew to the right and everyone could hear the crack it made. Samantha gave him one last look and turned and stomped up to the girl's dormitories. Everyone just stood there in shock. It was Ron who broke the silence.

"Bloody hell mate, she didn't even hit that Slytherin that hard. You've down right pissed her off."

"You think," said Harry sarcastically while holding his jaw. "I'm going to bed now, and if anyone asks me another question I'll gladly go to Azkaban for hexing them into the next century!"

The next day Samantha woke up early so she could do her homework. She had been working for quite some time when Harry finally came down the stairs, clean and in normal clothing. He stopped for a moment when he saw Samantha and then continued on his way over to the table where his last weeks homework was still sitting, a little more messed up due to Samantha's tender, loving care; also known as, playing Nancy Drew.

Samantha did not look up once at Harry even though she knew he was standing two feet from her. Harry and Samantha silently worked at the same table they always did. This time however the tension was thick and both of them were trying to ignore the other.

The awkwardness was starting to get to Samantha so she silently prayed that Harry would get up and leave soon. Her prayers were answered, but not by Harry leaving. No it was actually Ron having a rather loud argument with Hermione. They had both entered the common room like this.

"Hermione, we don't know if she knows that Harry knows that Snuffles is innocent!" screamed Ron.

"Ron will you stop yelling! People can figure out what you are saying you know! And yes we don't know, but she is a part of this and he said that he wanted all of us there."

"But Hermione, he doesn't even know of her. It's not like Harry told him about her!" Ron argued. Neither of them had yet to notice that they weren't alone.

"Ron she is coming with us, she has to explain her part of what happened," said Hermione.

"But Harry hasn't told her yet, and at this rate he probably never will. I mean she is pissed."

"How do you know that they won't make up and become friends again Ronald? It could happen!"

"Have you seen Harry suckered punched before?"

"She hasn't been here before!"

"What are you two arguing about?" asked Samantha. Ron and Hermione both jumped.

"Samantha, Harry we didn't know you were in here," said Hermione.

"Obviously," replied Harry.

"I repeat, what are you two arguing about?" asked Samantha shutting her book, giving the two her full attention.

"Well Samantha, it's funny you should ask. You see Snuffles wants to see us. In about an hour so we were coming to tell the two of you that," explained Hermione.

Samantha just gave her a blank stare, completely confused at what she was talking about.

"I haven't told her about Snuffles," Harry said going back to his overdue homework.

Ron had a triumphant look on his face. "Ha, I told you. So she can't come," he said.

"You really believe that Ron?" asked Hermione sweetly. Ron nodded.

"Snuffles, is the code name for Harry's godfather Sirius Black," Hermione continued. Harry and Ron were both looking at her like she had lost her mind.

"Why does he have code name?" asked Samantha. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't think of where she had heard it before.

"Because, he's an escaped convict from Azkaban prison."

"He's a criminal and you trust him?" Samantha said in shock.

"He's innocent. The person who committed the crimes that he was put in for, framed him," explained Harry. Samantha just gave him a hard look. Doubtful, he was just going to get this "Snuffles" guy to bump her off.

"And so why does Snuffles want to see us?" she asked looking at Hermione.

"He wants to know about everything that happened while Harry was out of Hogwarts. So we are meeting up with him. And don't worry Harry Dumbledore is getting him in and out of Hogwarts safely."

"You wrote to him!" exclaimed Harry.

"You were missing for five days Harry! What did you expect us to do?" said Hermione.

"So when are we meeting him?" asked Samantha. Ron looked at the clock.

"In fifteen minutes."

Fifteen minutes later the four of them were walking silently to where they were meeting Sirius. Hermione was leading and Ron was in the back to make sure that Harry didn't skive off.

It seemed to take twice as long to get wherever they were going because of the tension and silence. When they finally reached their destination Samantha thought that Hermione had lost her mind because she was pacing back and forth in front of a wall. Seeing Samantha's confusion Harry disturbed the silence.

"It's how you enter the Room of Requirement," he explained. Samantha nodded her head in understanding; she still wasn't talking to him.

The door finally appeared and they entered. There was a large sofa where three people could sit comfortably and a couple of big, overstuffed chairs in front of a beautiful fireplace. There were also some snacks and bottles of butterbeer on a coffee table.

Both Harry and Samantha chose to sit in a chair across from each other giving dirty looks, while Hermione and Ron occupied the couch. They didn't have to wait too long before Dumbledore entered with a large black dog following him.

The headmaster was there only long enough to let the dog in and remind them that they only had a few hours to talk.

The black dog turned into the tall man that Samantha had seen in her dream. He looked quite surprised to see Samantha there.

"Not to be rude or anything, but who are you?" he asked Samantha. His voice was rough but kind.

"Samantha Granger, I'm Hermione's cousin."

"She just got transferred here," Ron added.

"Oh, you grew up in the United States didn't you?" he asked noticing her different accent.

"Yeah, I did."

"Well I am Sirius Black, due to the fact that you're here, I assume that they," he said pointing to Ron, Hermione, and Harry, "explained my situation to you."

"Yes, sir, don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you were here or live in London or any of that kind of stuff."

"Well I'll be looking forward to getting to know you better, however, we should start discussing what we came here to speak about. Harry what the hell is going on? Why do you keep disappearing? From what I understand this past week hasn't been the first time you've left."

"Dumbledore is having me help with some things," replied Harry as he rubbed his eyes with his right hand. His tone clearly stating that he didn't want to discuss this at all.

"What things?"

"I can't tell you."

"Okay well how long have you been doing these 'things'?"

"August."

"August!" yelled Ron. He clearly didn't expect that answer. Hermione however looked like her suspicions had been confirmed.

"When were you planning on telling me of this Harry?" asked Sirius.

"I wasn't."

"Why not?"

"Because it would worry you, that I was doing this and that I am not allowed to tell you anything about what I am doing."

"What makes you think that?"

"Sirius, you came to Hogwarts because my scar hurt before my fourth year! You would have blown a gasket if I had told you about what Dumbledore has asked me to do."

"No, I would have forbidden you to partake in it."

"Which is why Dumbledore waited until after my birthday to ask me to do this, that way I wouldn't need your permission," said Harry irritably.

"Harry I don't want you to get hurt! I am not going to say that I am okay with this, because I am not. I do know however that it is your decision, so I am going to ask you to be more careful than you have been," said Sirius.

Samantha didn't know whether to be irritated at the fact that Sirius seemed to understand that Harry needed to keep everything a secret, or to admire him for being so understanding, since what Harry was doing was obviously dangerous.

"I have been…"

"Have you? Because it looks to me like you haven't been too careful about it. Harry you were gone for five days where no one knew where you were! What would have happened if Voldemort had found out? He would have used it to his advantage and we wouldn't have been able to help you!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Sirius, Dumbledore knows every time I leave. He knows where I am going or going to be during the time I'm away from Hogwarts. This last time was unexpected but really could have been much worse. There was about two hours where Dumbledore didn't know where I was, but he figured it out," said Harry.

"Then why weren't you back earlier?" asked Samantha. Harry raised an eyebrow at her. He clearly hadn't expected her to talk to him.

"Because it took some planning for me to be able to leave where I ended up." Harry looked back at Sirius. "I'll try to be more careful, if that helps at all, but I will not stop what I am doing."

Sirius seemed to expect this answer for he just nodded his head. He looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that they had plenty of time left. Though he was deeply afraid that Harry was in over his head, Harry was speaking the truth when he said that Sirius couldn't stop him, so Sirius was doing his best to hide his concern and accept Harry's decision. It was when he was about to change the topic when he noticed the large bruise on Harry's jaw.

"How did you get that bruise? Dumbledore said that you weren't hurt," Sirius asked, indicting the bruise on Harry's jaw from when Samantha had punched him.

"Oh, uh, that would be my bad. You see I, kind of, hit him last night when he refused to answer our questions," explained Samantha sheepishly.

Sirius' eyes gleamed with mirth. He found it absolutely hilarious that Harry had been punched by a girl. "Really? Wow, Harry your father didn't even piss off a girl so bad that she resorted to _physical _attacks. And, Samantha, you must have a nice right hook to leave that kind of mark. You are defiantly welcome at my house anytime you want!"

"Thanks Sirius, I'm doing great, really appreciate your sympathy," said Harry rolling his eyes.

"Sorry, Harry but you deserved it from what I heard. That and the fact that she is a girl makes it all the more hilarious," Sirius said barely containing his laughter. Feeling a little sympathetic towards Harry, Sirius finally changed the topic. "So Samantha why did you come to Hogwarts this year?"

"Oh, well that Moldywart person killed my parents on Halloween night and my headmistress said I would be safer over here," Samantha said with all seriousness. Ron however was looking at her like she had grown another head and Harry and Sirius were chuckling. Samantha looked at them weird.

"What's so funny," she asked.

"His name is Voldemort, not Moldywart," explained Hermione.

"Oh, whatever."

"Sorry Samantha, I know it's not funny, after all it was your parents that he murdered, but I have honestly never heard anyone call Voldemort anything that doesn't demand respect or inflicts fear, so the fact that you carelessly did is amusing to me. I think I'm going to use that from now on," said Sirius.

"So you came to Hogwarts because your headmistress told you it would be safer. Surely there was someone that you could have trusted to watch over you in your home town? And American schools are not that far behind Hogwarts with the wards that they have placed around them."

"There is, he's my neighbor, in fact he really didn't want me to come here. But after talking with my friends and listening to my gut instinct I decided to come here."

"Are you close to your neighbor?"

"Yeah I am. I mean sure he is old enough to be my father but that's never stopped Chris from helping me with things that I couldn't ask my parents. Though I must say it was really weird after my parents died."

"How so?"

"Well I stayed with Chris for a little bit and I learned that he is actually from England. Apparently he went to Hogwarts along with his older brother. Never knew that before. And as I said before, he really did not want me to come to Hogwarts. He thought I would be better off staying with him."

Sirius looked mildly surprised. "What's his name?"

"Chris Potter, why do you know him?" asked Samantha.

"I'm not sure; there were a few Chris Potter's that attended Hogwarts while I was here. I would have to see him to know for sure if he is the one I think he is. Though I guess it doesn't matter much," said Sirius quietly.

Though it was obvious to Samantha that it did matter to Sirius, he seemed to be thinking too much on the matter for it not to be a small, insignificant matter.

"So where exactly did you come from?" Sirius asked, almost as if he realized he was thinking too long.

"Salem, Massachusetts."

"So you went to the Salem's Witch's Institute?"

"Yes I did, six of the best years of my life."

"Yeah I knew a girl who graduated from there, she was amazingly gorgeous. I wonder what happened to her," said Sirius, obviously going down memory lane. "Oh well. So what do you do for fun?"

"Well shop, of course, talking with friends, create havoc among the locals and within the school. Mind you I haven't done much of these things since I came here, but that's to be expected."

"You would have fit in with Lily's group of friends." This statement peaked the other three's interest immediately.

"How so?" asked Harry.

"They were always trying to retaliate against us for the pranks we pulled on them. There was one point at the end of sixth year, when the entire Gryffindor Common Room looked like a war zone from the amount of joke items were being combined and thrown and mixing with hexes and spells. Damn that was fun."

"I don't believe you," said Hermione.

"Why not?"

"Because from I've learned of Harry's mum, she would not have participated in such a thing."

"Oh, but Hermione, you underestimate the power that James had over her. You see he could piss her off to where she would start throwing hexes at him in less than five seconds. Mind you, that was how I knew that deep down she liked him, considering I would barely finish my sentence before I had to dodge one of her curses. So imagine how it was with the two of us, purposefully egging her on. Got into a fair bit of trouble and Lily, of course wouldn't even look at us for awhile, but it was fun! Anyway, Samantha how do you like Hogwarts so far?"

"It's huge and creepily beautiful, but I have had more welcoming experiences," answered Samantha truthfully. Though she didn't know why she was being so open with the criminal, after all she barely knew him.

"But surely you've had some good experiences," inquired Sirius. "I mean not everyone is against you being here, right?"

"Well, Harry is really the only one who accepted me from the beginning, but I did get some respect after I yelled at Professor Snape in potions class," explained Samantha. Sirius' eyes shot up and his jaw dropped.

"You yelled at Snape? Why Samantha that is the most brilliant thing you have said all night! I've been waiting for someone your age to stand up to Snivellus. There is hope for you yet. Now let's hope that you'll rub of on others."

"Sirius!" exclaimed Hermione in alarm.

"What?" Sirius asked innocently. Hermione gave him a hard look. Samantha was laughing at Sirius. Everyone seemed to be having a good time sitting there talking about insignificant things. Unfortunately the joyous atmosphere was short lived. It was destroyed by Harry suddenly as he grabbed his scar in pain.

"I…I'm sorry, but I have to go," said Harry as he got up. Before Sirius, or anyone else, could say anything or even get up from their seats, Harry was out the door.

_**A.N. **__I am sooooo sorry about the long update. Technology hates me! Hopefully I'll be able to have the next chapter up soon. (I'm actually in a place where the computers actually work) Thanks to Skyler for the wonderful beta work. Mucho Gracias for the help last night!! Thanks also to everyone who reviewed!!! Please review!!! I'll answer questions, comments, whatever. Yeah I'm done rambling now._


	15. Hogwarts First Thanksgiving

Chapter Fifteen

Hogwarts First Thanksgiving

November was drawing to a close. The castle was becoming increasingly colder and the students were becoming excited at the prospect of the upcoming Christmas.

Samantha however, not to anyone's shock, was not. No she was far more excited for another holiday, one that was much closer. In fact she had already started to prepare for it. Though, none of the Hogwarts population had figured it out yet.

They were still trying to figure out why little cornucopias and hands that vaguely resembled turkeys were all over the common room. Yes, Samantha was ecstatic that it was almost Thanksgiving. Some of her house mates were getting annoyed with the decorations that Samantha had put up, especially the girls that roomed with her.

It was Ron who first made Samantha realize that Thanksgiving was a completely American holiday. This came to be when one of Samantha's decorations fell on Ron's head. She had made a large banner that said 'HAPPY THANKSGIVING!' with a large turkey on either side of the words. Samantha had hung the banner above the staircase leading to the dormitories. As Ron was walking down one morning her handiwork come crashing down in top of him.

He fell down in a heap with the banner tangling up with him as he tried to come free of it. When he finally did, Ron picked up the banner and read the message it displayed, and screamed to the entire common room, "What the bloody hell is Thanksgiving?"

Samantha looked flabbergasted.

"What do you mean?" asked Samantha.

"I mean exactly what I said, what the bloody hell is Thanksgiving?" said Ron as he made his way towards where Samantha and Harry (who Samantha was talking to again) were sitting carrying the banner with him.

At this moment Hermione came in with her arms full of books from the library. She noticed Ron and the banner and immediately came up to them. After depositing her books on the table she grabbed the banner from Ron and held it to where she could read it.

"I take it that this is your doing Samantha?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Because we do not celebrate Thanksgiving Samantha, it is purely an American holiday."

"No Thanksgiving? That's…that's…that's blasphemy!" Samantha said in outrage.

"There isn't."

"Well this year there is going to be. So happy week of Thanksgiving!" said Samantha cheerfully before she got up and walked out of the common room. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry as if asking him to explain why Samantha just said that.

"Don't look at me I don't know what goes through her head any more than you do!" said Harry.

"Yes, but you're around her more," stated Ron.

"Like that helps. With her anything is possible. I truly do not understand her," said Harry thinking back on the night that Samantha had punched him.

It was lunch time before anyone saw Samantha again. When she finally did make an appearance she was smiling like someone had just given her a very large amount of drugs.

Hermione instantly became suspicious.

"What have you done?" Hermione asked sharply.

"Now what makes you think that I have done anything? Can't a girl be happy without a reason?" replied Samantha.

"Not you," was Ron's reply.

"Fine I did do something, but it was for a project that I want to do."

"What project?" asked Harry, knowing that she didn't have a project due in any of her classes.

"You'll see later," was her short reply. For the rest of the meal no one could get anything out of her.

The rest of the week went by slowly. Samantha's festive spirit seemed to increase with every passing day. Harry was constantly finding himself having to explain to others why Samantha was so giddy. Finally Thursday morning arrived. At breakfast everyone learned of what Samantha had planned.

Harry had gone down to breakfast with Ron and Hermione because Samantha had dashed off, telling him not to wait for her and that she had already ate. When they entered the Great Hall they knew something was different when they saw everyone gossiping with each other in an unusual way. They were also surprised to find Fred and George sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"What are you two doing here?" asked Ron.

"What can't we visit our dear ickle Ronniekins?" Fred asked mockingly.

"Yeah it's like you don't care for us any more!" George agreed.

"Seriously what are you doing here?" asked Ron

"Mom sent us to check on you." Fred said with a bored expression.

"And we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to sell some of our wares." George continued.

"What's going on?" asked Ron indicating all the gossiping people.

"Apparently there isn't going to be any classes today," replied Ginny. Ron dropped the food he was scooping.

"What?"

"Dumbledore announced it earlier. He said something about being culturally aware of everyone who comes from different places," said Dean.

Ron still looked flabbergasted, Hermione looked appalled, and Harry had a feeling that Samantha was behind it. His suspicions were confirmed when a loud trumpeting sound was made to get the attention of everyone.

The noise came from the entrance to the hall. The hall went silent and everyone started to look for the source of the noise. Suddenly Samantha's magnified voice came ringing through the halls.

"Welcome Hogwarts… people, to the first ever Hogwarts Thanksgiving Day Parade! The parade will consist of balloons, floats, and musical numbers performed by; house elves, Samantha Granger, and a special guest appearance. The parade of course ends with the appearance of Santa Clause." Clapping ensued, no doubt done by Samantha herself.

"Today's parade is brought to you by Samantha Granger, Professor Dumbledore, and Macy's for this wonderful idea. Special thanks to the hundreds of Macy's shopper's world wide. And now without any further delay the beginning of the HOGWARTS THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE!"

Suddenly the doors to the great hall were burst open and in entered Samantha wearing white clothing covered in Christmas lights and tinsel leading a band of house elves, playing Oh, Come All Ye Faithful. Samantha pretended to be conducting the house elves and they stopped in front of the teacher's table to finish that particular performance.

Nearly everyone in the Great Hall had their jaws dropped in astonishment. The exceptions to this were Harry and Dumbledore. Harry had his head in his hands, and Dumbledore was sitting there and enjoying the music that the house elves were playing.

After the house elves finished with that performance the left the great hall only to be followed by a giant Garfield balloon. That was followed by another band performance, and then a float decorated like a toy store. After the float Samantha entered the "stage" area.

"So this next song is from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's called, What's This?" She took a moment and cleared her throat then started to sing.

_What's this? What's this?  
There's color everywhere  
What's this?  
There's white things in the air  
What's this?  
I can't believe my eyes  
I must be dreaming  
Wake up, Jack, this isn't fair  
What's this? _

_What's this? What's this?  
There's something very wrong  
What's this?  
There are people singing songs _

_What's this?  
The streets are lined with  
Little creatures laughing  
Everybody seems so happy  
Have I possibly gone daffy?  
What is this?  
What's this? _

_There are children throwing snowballs here  
Instead of throwing heads  
They're busy building toys  
And absolutely no one's dead _

Fred and George leaned over to their brother, tears streaming down their faces from laughter and asked, "Who is this? And what is she doing?"

"That… would be my cousin, Samantha. And she is, from what I can tell, celebrating Thanksgiving," Hermione said rolling her eyes as the song continued to continue.

_There's frost on every window  
Oh, I can't believe my eyes  
And in my bones I feel the warmth  
That's coming from inside _

_Oh, look  
What's this?  
They're hanging the mistletoe, they kiss  
Why that looks so unique, inspired  
They're gathering around to hear a story  
Roasting chesnuts on a fire  
What's this?  
What's this? _

_In here they've got a little tree, how queer  
And who would ever think  
And why? _

_They're covering it with tiny little things  
They've got electric lights on strings  
And there's a smile on everyone  
So, now, correct me if I'm wrong  
This looks like fun  
This looks like fun  
Oh, could it be I got my wish?  
What's this? _

Harry dared to look up and saw Samantha prancing around the stage area. She looked absolutely elated at what she was doing. Dumbledore also seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.

_Oh, my, what now?  
The children are asleep  
But look, there's nothing underneath  
No ghouls, no witches here to scream and scare them  
Or ensnare them, only cozy little things  
Secure inside their dreamland  
What's this? _

_The monsters are all missing  
And the nightmares can't be found  
And in their place there seems to be  
Good feelings all around _

_Instead of screams, I swear  
I can hear music in the air  
The smell of cakes and pies  
Is absolutely everywhere _

_The sights, the sounds  
They're everywhere and all around  
I've never felt so good before  
This empty place inside of me is filling up  
I simply cannot get enough _

_I want it, oh, I want it  
Oh, I want it for my own  
I've got to know  
I've got to know  
What is this place that I have found?  
What is this?  
Christmas Town, hmm_

Samantha finished singing and took a sweeping bow before leaving the stage to let the rest of the parade commence. The trio all looked at each other hoping one of them would have an explanation. None of them could explain the behavior of the odd American witch.

A/N: So yeah the next chapter should be up soon. It'll be the second part of Thanksgiving Day. Please review!!!!


	16. Thanksgiving ADHD

Chapter Sixteen

Thanksgiving ADHD

Samantha finished her song with what appeared to be a tap flourish, and Dumbledore applauded loudly. The rest of the parade went along in much the same manner.

There was even a duet between Samantha and Dumbledore. The parade ended when the largest house elf entered in a sleigh dressed as Father Christmas. Samantha came back into the Great Hall five minutes later in her normal attire. She looked absolutely thrilled.

"So what do you think?" she asked sitting down next to Harry.

"That you're barking mad," was his reply.

"Yeah, but you love me anyway."

"That's debatable."

"Oh, is that why you apologized for your crappy ass behavior by sending me roses and writing a long apology letter?"

"No, I did that so I wouldn't have to put up with you slamming me into the wall anymore."

"Ohhh, did I hurt little old you?" asked Samantha in a baby voice pulling at his cheeks.

"Yes, you did." Harry said smacking her hands.

"I'd say sorry but we both know that I would be lying. So how did you like the parade?"

"It was… different." Harry said with a cheesy smile.

"Good or bad different?"

"Different."

"You're such a pain Potter, answer the damn question!"

"I don't think I can."

"You aren't forbidden to tell me your opinion Harry! So out with it!"

"You're looking for a specific answer and I don't want to get punched." Harry protested covering his cheek.

"Fine be that way! Hermione, Ron, what did the two of you think?" she asked turning to her cousin and Ron.

"It was un-expected," said Ron.

"You used house elves!" cried Hermione in astonishment. Trying to get past the fact that her cousin entered dressed like an adorned fir tree.

"They volunteered, besides I can't be a one man band now can I?"

Harry started chuckling.

"That would have been entertaining," he said.

Samantha smacked the back of his head.

"For what it's worth I thought it was brilliant," said George.

"Yes, defiantly praise worthy, could have done more with balloons, and the floats though," added Fred.

"Thanks. I thought so myself but I didn't want to overwhelm everyone with it being their first Thanksgiving and all- who are you?" Samantha asked as she realized she was rambling to two complete strangers.

"Fred and George Weasley at your service." Fred said giving a bow.

"Weasley huh? So you're related to the human garbage disposal here, right?" said Samantha pointing at Ron.

"What's a garbage disposal?" asked Ron with his mouth full of food.

"It's a muggle device that chops up food so that you can wash it down the drain, in other words a machine version of you," Sam explained. Fred and George laughed.

"So are you guys going to join me for the Thanksgiving Day football game?" asked Samantha as everyone got up from the table.

"Thanksgiving Day football game?" asked Ginny curiously.

"Yeah, it's a special game of football played on Thanksgiving Day. This year I think it was supposed to be the Broncos against the Colts. I wanted to watch it too. Oh well, so who's with me?"

"I'll play," said Dean, mistaking what sport Samantha was asking them to play.

"Cool, who else?"

"Samantha no offense but Quidditch is far more entertaining than watching people running around on a field kicking one ball into a net." Harry told her as everyone scratched the backs of their necks and looked away.

"What are you talking about?" asked Samantha.

"You said football didn't you?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, you know quarterbacks, running backs, touchdowns, end zones, the Super Bowl!" At Super Bowl Samantha began to run around in circles her hands in the air imitating, poorly, the sound of a crowded arena.

"Um, Samantha by any chance is the Super Bowl the playoff games?" Harry asked trying to focus on the question he was asking instead of her chicken like behavior.

"Yeah it's the last game of the football season. The two remaining teams compete for the title of that year," Samantha said stopping.

"Are you sure that it's not the World Cup that you are talking about?"

"No it's the Super Bowl! The World Cup is soccer!" She told them in an "everyone knows that" tone. They all understood why they were all confused.

"Woman you seriously need to be Britainized or something. Learn our ways, become one of us! That way we'll know what they bloody hell you are talking about!" Ron told her rolling his eyes.

"Why do I have to conform to you? Why can't you learn my ways?" Samantha retorted sticking her tongue out at him.

"Who cares?" snapped Hermione smacking Samantha on the face.

Samantha looked up, down, and spun around in a circle a few times before throwing her hands on top of her head and crying. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling,"

Harry sighed although he was smiling as she dove under the table.

"Sam," He said tapping his foot impatiently.

"It's falling, it's falling, it's falling,"

"SAM!" Harry exclaimed exasperated bending down under the table. He dared anyone who didn't believe in attention deficit hyperactive disorder to meet this girl; she would make a believer out of them.

"No! No! Ouch!" Samantha said as Harry gripped her in a headlock and pulled her out from under the table. "Arry, you chokling ee." Samantha gagged.

Harry shrugged. "Tough,"

"Harry, really, I think you should let go now, she's turning purple," Ron said.

"ike urple," Samantha mumbled.

"What?" Harry asked letting go of her.

"I said, I LIKE PURPLE." Smanatha yelled in his ear. "Gesh, if you hadn't have tried to kill me you would've heard me the FIRST time."

"You were under the table," Dean reminded.

"Yeah," She said as though it was as normal as breathing.

"Oookaayy…" Ron said after a second. "Weren't we supposed to be doing something really boring and stupid?"

"Oh yeah! So, American football game, yay or nay?" asked Samantha, looking expectantly around the group.

"We don't know what it is." Harry told her shrugging.

"I'll teach you. Please, it'll be a lot of fun!" begged Samantha pulling out the pout lip.

"Fine, I'll play, but after we play football, there is going to be a Thanksgiving Day Quidditch match that you have to participate in," replied Harry.

"Okay."

The group then dispersed and went to change. They met up ten minutes later on the Quidditch pitch. Harry had managed to convince a few other people to come and play with them. Everyone who decided to humor this crazy American, who inadvertently got them out of class was: Ginny, Dean, Seamus, Fred, George, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Samantha, and Neville.

"So, here are those brave enough to endure the wrath of football. This is not a game for sissies, momma's boys, or pansies. There is the chance that you will get hurt, but think of it this you're taking one for the team!" Samantha said pounding her fists into her hand, over dramatizing her speech. "Now this game is not for everyone…"

"Sam," said Harry, trying to get Samantha's attention.

"It requires skill…."

"Sam," Harry said again shrugging at everyone who was staring at him.

"And hand-eye coordination…"

"Samantha!" Harry yelled finally.

"What?" She asked clueless as to why he would interrupt her beginning of the game pep talk.

"Teach us how to play the bloody game."

"Fine. Okay so this is the football," She said bringing out the ball. "The purpose of this game is to get the ball into the end zone at the opposite side of the field. Whoever has the most points at the end of game wins. Now teams, how should we divide?"

"Split the twins," Ron said immediately.

"Why?" cried Fred and George.

"Because you play dirty when you're together," Ginny responded.

"Any other suggestions?" asked Samantha. No one replied.

"Okay well then why don't we have Ginny, Dean, Seamus, Neville, and George on one team, and me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Fred on the other. Is that okay?"

Everyone nodded in assent.

"Alright then, let the game begin!"

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Also please review for this chapter. Also Skyler I know you've edited the somewhat latest chapters, but I can't update them without them. Hint hint, nudge, nudge. Also I figure I should add another disclaimer since it's been awhile, you never know. But I don't own anything associated with the wonderful books, unless you include all the merchandise out there for people to buy. But the plot,characters. etc. belong to J.K.


	17. Blue 42 and Free Falling

Chapter Seventeen

Blue 42 and Free Falling

Samantha quickly taught everyone how to line up in formation. She decided to be the quarterback because she was the only one who knew how to play the game. Harry was the unlucky one who had to hike the ball to her.

"BLUE 42, BLUE 42…" started Samantha.

"Wait, what does 'blue 42' mean?" asked Harry, standing from his crouched position. Samantha stared at him.

"I don't know."

"Then why are you saying it?" asked Ron.

"Because it's what all the football players say, duh. Now positions people!" Once everyone got back into position Samantha started again. "BLUE 42, BLUE42, BLUE 42, SET HIKE HIKE!"

Harry tossed the ball into Samantha's hands. Everyone else was standing there with no idea what they were supposed to do.

"You run now, towards the end zone, you know over there," said Samantha to her team, pointing in front of her where the end zone was marked off. "And you, the opposing team, are supposed to try to prevent us from getting a touch down. NOW MOVE PEOPLE!"

Everyone did as they were told. Samantha ended up throwing the ball to Fred, who immediately got tackled by George. Samantha's team gained two feet.

The game continued on in a similar fashion. Neither team was especially great at the offensive part, but on defense they seemed to have no trouble tackling each other. The game was tied and Samantha's team had one last chance to gain a touchdown before the agreed time for the Quidditch game. Samantha was thinking hard. It was then she realized that the person who moved the ball forward the farthest was always Harry. When she had the ball in her hands, she maneuvered as much as she could to give Harry a good head start. When he was about fifteen feet down the playing field she threw the ball to him. Time seemed to slow down as the ball spiraled through the air. Harry finally caught it and managed to evade George's tackle attempts. He took of running towards the end zone. Everyone else was trying to catch up. That play made it obvious that Harry was the faster runner. Finally Harry made it to the end zone scoring the winning points. Samantha did the victory dance for Harry. Everyone else was staring at her.

"Okay, time for Quidditch. Same teams?" said Ron, still staring at Samantha. Everyone nodded. Samantha was a bit apprehensive of this part of the day. She had never played Quidditch before. She knew how the game was played of course, but she wasn't that good at flying. When she had taken her lessons at Salem's her instructor had actually yelled at her in frustration. Samantha grabbed the broom that was being handed to her and awkwardly climbed on. Harry looked over at her and chuckled, while everyone else was getting the balls ready. He came over to her.

"I take it you're not too good at flying?" he said.

"Yeah, you could say that," she replied fear evident in her voice.

"Well it might be a bit easier if you hold your broom like this," Harry said, showing her the proper way to grip her broom. Samantha imitated him.

"Any suggestions on how to get over a serious fear of heights?" asked Samantha.

"Well I would suggest to not look down, but we will be playing Quidditch so that is inevitable. Maybe try not to think about it too much, instead concentrate on the game," suggested Harry. Samantha nodded fervently.

"Oy, are you two going to play or what?" yelled Fred.

"Yeah we're ready!" Harry yelled back. With that the Quidditch match started. Being the horrible flier that she was Samantha held back and let the others do what they were best at. She stopped at one point and just observed everyone else playing. She could tell most of the group were Quidditch players by the way they moved. As she watched Harry, she immediately knew why he was mentioned in that book that Savannah had read. She stayed in her position off to the side for a long time. As far as she could tell the teams were about evenly scored, so whoever got the snitch would win the game. She was watching Fred score another goal when someone yelled her name.

"SAMANTHA LOOK OUT!" shouted Harry. Samantha turned to look at him only to have her face almost become acquainted with a bludger. She screamed and did a roll to avoid being hit by the ball. However, she forgot to get a tight grasp of the broom, so she fell off it.

Harry took off after her. Samantha was falling through the air knowing she was going to be in serious pain soon. Harry finally caught up with her fall and managed to catch her before she hit the ground. He carefully brought her to the safety of the ground. She had her hands clasped firmly over her eyes. Harry was trying to pry them off of her face.

Everyone flew to the ground and came running over.

"Is she alright?" asked Neville. Harry was still trying to get her to open her eyes.

"Samantha…Samantha, you're alright now, you're back on the ground!" he said.

"Falling, painful, death," she said rambling.

"Samantha you're fine!" Harry said trying to snap her out of her shock.

"I'm paralyzed, I'm paralyzed!" she said waving her arms around violently. Samantha finally stopped long enough to look around.

"What happened?' she asked quietly.

"You let go of your broom while dodging a bludger," said Harry.

"Yeah you're lucky Harry here has damn good reflexes or you would be a bloody mess, literally," said George.

"You…you saved me?" Samantha asked Harry.

"Well yeah, Samantha that fall could have killed you."

"Oh, my hero!" exclaimed Samantha throwing herself onto Harry to hug him. Harry clearly didn't anticipate this, for he looked completely clueless as what to do.

"Uh, Samantha could you, uh, let go?" said Harry.

"Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly, releasing her death grip on him. The atmosphere became awkward very quickly.

"So, um…shall…shall we, uh, go back in? I mean since the teams would be uneven because I am not playing anymore," said Samantha without looking at Harry. Harry nodded at the ground.

"What you don't want to get back on a broom?" teased Fred.

"Not for another bajillion years," said Samantha. The group slowly made their way back to the common room. They were almost there when a first year stopped Samantha.

"Miss Samantha Granger!" he called. Samantha turned quickly to see who was calling her and almost fell in the process. Harry managed to steady her before she did. She smiled at him in gratitude and answered the first year boy.

"Yes."

"Hello, my name is Jake Mathews and I just wanted to say, that I, and there are others like me, am glad that you came to Hogwarts," he said proudly.

"Eh, why?" replied Samantha.

"Well because you're not afraid to stand up to Snape. Anyone who can do that is quite remarkable and brave, because of that we salute you and offer you our services whenever you need them," he said standing tall and saluting Samantha. Samantha just stared at the kid blinking rapidly. She turned to Harry.

"Is he serious?" she asked him. Harry shrugged.

"Yes I am," said the boy hearing her question.

"Oh, well, um…thank you, I'm, uh, flattered, but uh… won't be needing your services at this time," said Samantha. He nodded and walked down the corridor. Everyone watched his retreating back. Harry was trying to hold back his laughter, while everyone else was in shock. Fred and George were the worst; they couldn't even hide their surprise. Their jaws were hanging open and were looking at Samantha like she had grown another head.

"That was weird," said Samantha as she turned to continue on their way. Harry laughed.

"Just think now whenever you feel like not doing your homework you can call upon, Jake and his fellow first-year followers to do it for you," he said putting an arm across her shoulders. Samantha laughed as she repeated his action.

"But Harry, I wanted you to do my homework for me."

"Not going to happen."

"Please."

"No."

"What if I said it was my birthday?"

"Is it?"

"No."

"Then, no." By now they had reached the common room. The small group entered and plopped down in front of the fireplace. Harry and Samantha were still engrossed in their rather pointless discussion.

"Do they do this a lot?" asked George.

"Yes," replied Hermione who had picked up her book and started reading.

"Sooooo, who's ready for the Thanksgiving turkey dinner?" asked Samantha suddenly turning to everyone else.

"Thanksgiving turkey dinner?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, it's wonderful. I think even you could get full off it," replied Samantha. "There's turkey, and mashed potatoes, and stuffing, and gravy, and corn, and rolls, and salad, and cranberries, and olives, and sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, and apple pie, and pecan pie, and whip cream, and chocolate, and green been casserole, and marshmallows, and apple cider, and ice-cream, and wine, and beer, and vodka, and grasshoppers, and turducken! And the best part is you can eat as much as you want! Oh it is a wonderful holiday!"

"Grasshoppers?" asked Ginny.

"Turducken?" asked Dean.

"It's a chicken in a duck in a turkey, and a grasshopper is something you're too young to drink," replied Samantha.

"What do you mean too young? Harry, Ginny, and Neville are the only ones under age to drink," said Hermione. Samantha then remembered that the legal age to drink in Britain was 18.

"Well that sucks for you three," she said.

"When does the turkey dinner start?" asked Ron excited about the prospect of a lot of food.

"Dinner time."

"Great you just made me hungry and now I have to wait till dinner," said Ron grumpily. Everyone laughed.

"Lets change the topic shall we," said Hermione trying to get Ron's mind off of dinner.

"What's this about standing up to Snape?" Fred asked Samantha.

"Oh, well I yelled at him one day during class."

"You told him off," said Harry.

"Yes well, someone had to."

"What exactly happened?" asked George. Samantha them related her story of that day to the twins. As she finished they were in outrage. How could someone from another country outdo their status among the first years? It was scandalous! Up until that point they thought Samantha was pretty cool, but now she was a competitor. After all they have an image to maintain. Their manipulative brains immediately began working on a plan. It would of course involve Samantha's most privet possessions. However their time to act on their master plan had not yet come, so for now they decided to act normal. They looked at each other, smiled and nodded. Yes it was a brilliant plan.

A/N: Thanks to all the wonderful people who have read my somewhat crazy story. Please leave a review. Any questions or comments are appreciated and I do respond to them. Skyler I need the edited chapters!!


	18. Weasley vs Granger

Chapter Eighteen

Weasley vs. Granger

The next morning everyone had trouble forcing themselves to get up. And Harry, as most mornings, was one of the last people down the stairs to breakfast. It was as he walked through the entrance hall that he noticed someone had decided to decorate it with another's clothes. Harry looked around at the various articles hanging from the ceiling, draped over statues and just floating in mid-air.

He, himself, was actually standing next a pair of sequenced underwear which is what caught his attention in the first place. His jaw dropped. And Harry slowly started walking again trying to shield his eyes from the onslaught of knickers and bras but they were just too bright. As he got to the end of the hall something red caught his eye and Harry turned to look at the clothing items.

What he saw told him and the rest of the school who the clothes belonged to. Hanging before him were a bra and underwear that had the American flag plastered on them.

Not knowing if Samantha was coming down soon (for he knew that she couldn't possibly be down yet or he would have heard her) Harry quickly walked into the Great Hall not wanting to be caught staring at Samantha's garments, especially after their brief close encounter the previous afternoon.

Upon entering the Great Hall Harry noticed that everyone was talking avidly about the choice of decoration for the entrance hall. He walked deliberately to the Gryffindor table and sat down by Ron. Hermione soon followed Harry, looking absolutely appalled by the clothing display.

"Whose bright idea was this?" asked Hermione offended. Fred and George immediately began to snicker.

"I think they're quite lovely don't you?" Fred said.

"Why yes, quite, I especially like the patriotic sense that Samantha has," replied George referring to the American flag underwear. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or kill the twins out of pity, for he was sure Samantha would do nothing less than slowly erasing them from existence.

"How did you manage to do it?" Ron asked, partly in awe and partly in disbelief.

"Well you see little brother; we gave Lavender and Parvati a special concoction. It would make them do anything we asked them to."

"After we were certain that it was working we asked them to give us a piggy-back ride up into the girl's dormitories, while everyone else was downstairs eating that glorious dinner."

"We took all of her clothes except one pair of pajamas; after all we didn't want to clue her in too early."

"Then in the dead of night we decorated the entrance hall with all of her clothes," explained Fred and George, both obviously very proud with their handiwork. Harry got up and moved so that he was a few seats away from the twins.

"I don't want to die," he explained when Ron questioned him. After about five minutes of being able to eat their breakfast in relative peace, Samantha entered the Great Hall still wearing her pajamas and pair of bright neon pink, fuzzy, bunny slippers. She looked happy which confused Harry.

"So how's everyone this fine morning?" she asked sitting down, scooping herself some porridge. Everyone looked warily at her. Harry was the first one to dare to speak.

"You mean you're not angry?" he asked.

"Why would I be angry? I had a good nights sleep, and I found my favorite pair of bunny slippers, I mean Fife and Froufrou have never let me down," said showing everyone her pink slippers by propping them up on the table.

"Samantha did you by chance actually…pay attention when you walked through the entrance hall?" Harry asked tentatively.

"No. Why?" Samantha replied, taking a bite from her breakfast.

"Just go out there and look," Harry told her not wanting her to be left in the dark for too long. Samantha gave him an odd look before getting up and exiting the Great Hall. There was a silence for about two seconds before everyone heard a ferocious scream. She ran back into the packed hall and shouted.

"WHO DID THIS?"

No one answered, they just looked at one another waiting for someone else to say something.

"WHO, THE FUCK HAD THE NERVE TO DO THIS?"

Fred and George snorted with laughter, immediately indicating that it was them. Samantha spun angrily to their direction.

Harry had never seen Samantha so pissed off before. If looks could kill the twins would be nothing but microscopic dust fragments floating about the room.

"You two! It was you two?" asked Samantha in a deadly whisper. Fred and George nodded, obviously not sensing any danger.

'Stupid stupid stupid," Harry thought shaking his head.

Samantha gave a death defying war cry as she took a running launch at the brothers. She flew over the Gryffindor table and tackled both Fred and George at the same time (everyone around them moved to get out of her way) to the ground with a resounding whapah! Samantha then, without hesitation, began to beat every part of them that her arms could reach.

"YOU STUPID, MORONIC, IDIOTIC, DIM-WITTED, DUMB ABOVE THE EARS, ASSHOLES!" said Samantha pausing between each word so she could punch them.

Harry sat for a moment, giving Samantha time to vent her frustration before cautiously getting up and moving over to stop Samantha from killing Fred and George. Not a small feat to be assured.

"Samantha, I think you've punished them enough," He said trying to pull her off with the help of Ron, Dean and Ginny. Hermione sat still at the table not believing she was even in the same species as this screaming badger.

Samantha however didn't seem to agree with Harry and only fought harder to continue with the well deserved good ol' American ass kicking. In fact, she even managed to get Harry to let go of her by elbowing his face.

Harry sat back and closed his eyes for a moment slowly feeling his face for any permanent damage. That bitch had broken his nose! After Harry recovered from the stinging in his nose he pulled out his wand.

"Petrificus Totalis," Harry said aiming his wand at Samantha.

She immediately froze up and fell over on to her side, a vicious look still on her face. There was no doubt, as people took a look, that she was out for blood.

"Sorry Samantha, but I had to. You're going to be in trouble as it is." Harry told her matter of factly picking up her feet. Everyone watched in amusement as he proceeded to drag her far away from the table and Fred and George before he took the spell off of her.

Fred and George slowly got up off the ground and surveyed the other. Both had bloody noses and were forming multiple bruises in various locations of their body. "That's going to leave a mark," Fred observed aloud as he looked at the long scratch down George's arm.

Samantha glared at them before clearing her throat.

"If either of you ever do something even remotely like this to me ever again, I will personally make sure that you are never able to procreate!" With that she picked up a nearby knife and gave a short jab in their direction. "Am I clear?"

Fred and George nodded fervently.

"Good, now if you don't mind Harry, and even if you do, I'm going to go and gather my belongings and go find a nice deep hole to curl up in and not come out for the next fifty years."

"Is that a promise?" Ron asked with a grin.

Samantha promptly turned to him and gave another jab. Ron startled and nearly fell off the bench.

Harry, after making sure she wasn't going to harm Ron, let go of her arm. He had grabbed it when she started speaking to the twins in fear of her attacking them again.

Samantha set the knife down, straightened her shoulders and marched out of the Great Hall trying to gather what dignity she had left. Everyone watched as she feverishly tried to pull down her undergarments as she passed.

No one saw or heard from her the rest of the day; she didn't show up to any of her classes. After their final class was over Harry, Ron, and Hermione went up to the Gryffindor common room. It was there that they saw Samantha for the first time since breakfast.

She was wearing a bright green T-shirt that said "I Love Salem" in hot pink letters and a pair of worn blue jeans. At the moment she was furiously tearing down her Thanksgiving decorations and muttering to herself.

She was obviously still upset about that morning.

Harry watched her for only a moment before he decided to go and talk to her. By the time he reached her she was on a step ladder trying to get down the banner that had fallen on Ron earlier that week.

The banner was being stubborn and was not coming down. Samantha, not noticing Harry standing beside her, decided to jump off the ladder while holding a corner of the banner. Her logic was that on using her body weight the banner would have to rip down.

The genius plan worked a little too well, for when she jumped the banner tore away from the wall too fast and with a loud rip. And the unsuspecting Harry suddenly found Samantha on top of him. And what remained of the banner floated down on top of them, burying them beneath the paper.

Samantha lay quietly under the paper trying to comprehend just what happened and why she found herself lying on Harry like a pillow.

"Way to break my fall Potter," she congratulated ripping the paper off them.

"Yeah, you want to get off?" Harry asked glad he could now see what was going on. It was a little dark under there.

"No, I think I'll just lay here and stare into your eyes." Samantha said rolling onto her stomach and staring at him with adoration.

"Please don't."

"Why not?"

"It makes me uncomfortable."

"But you have beautiful eyes." She told him propping her chin on her hand.

"What's that have to do with anything?" Harry asked trying to roll her off. That didn't work.

"They make you want to stare into them."

"Get off of me please."

"But I'm comfortable." She protested pounding on his chest as though fluffing up a pillow.

"Yeah and you're elbowing me."

"You're such a baby," Samantha said getting up. She helped Harry stand and they were soon encompassed in an uncomfortable silence.

"Samantha seriously, stop staring," Harry demanded, for Samantha hadn't stopped the intent and very creepy ogling of his face.

"But they're so beautiful."

"Sam," said Harry warningly. Other people were staring now.

"If I turned off the lights would they glow in the dark?"

"No."

"How do you know? I mean you are seeing with them and therefore can't see them." Samantha continued.

"I would know."

"Oo, Oo. Can I try?"

"No."

"Please."

"If I say yes will you shut up?"

"Maybe…" She said coyly with a shrug.

"Fine."

Samantha then hurried over and turned off the lights and looked towards Harry. Harry was waiting impatiently for Samantha to turn the lights back on. He was standing there for quite awhile waiting for her to do something.

"Samantha, are you done yet?" Harry asked finally. She didn't respond. "Samantha? Samantha? Samantha, are you even there?"

Samantha finally made her presence known by kissing him. Harry was stunned silent, he couldn't move. She finally walked back over and turned on the lights to see Harry standing there frozen stiff, eyes bulging, his hands in mid air.

"Goodnight," Samantha said yawning as she skipped to her dormitory.

"Who petrified Harry?" asked a first year who had just entered the common room. This seemed to jolt Harry out of his daze. He looked over to Ron and Hermione.

"What just happened?" He asked fearful of the answer.

"I don't know but you're eyes definitely don't glow in the dark," replied Ron with a mocking grin.

"We already knew that Ronald," said Hermione, smacking him on the head.

"I want to know what happened! Hermione do you think you could carry me up the stairs?" asked Harry remembering Fred and George's brilliant idea.

_A/N: Hey people, thanks for reading! Sorry for the long update, but I've been busy. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon! Please review!!_


	19. A New Romance

Chapter Nineteen

A New Romance

"No Harry," replied Hermione, looking at him as if he had grown another head.

"Please, I need to talk to Samantha," begged Harry.

"Harry, I don't think I could carry you even if I wanted to," Hermione stated.

"What are you saying that I'm fat?" asked Harry seemingly channeling Samantha's personality.

"Yes, you're slowly turning into your cousin," Hermione replied sarcastically referring to Harry's obese cream puff of a cousin Dudley.

"Oh okay then. So will you do it?"

"NO!" Hermione said fiercely, clearly indicating that it was the end of the discussion. Harry sighed and turned towards the boys dormitory. If he couldn't speak with Samantha then he would just go to sleep and wait to speak with her the next day.

The next morning Harry was up earlier than usual so he wouldn't miss Samantha when she came down. It turned out that he wouldn't have had to wake up so early on a Saturday, for Samantha was not really a morning person and didn't come down until about the time that lunch started.

She came down wearing pajama bottoms that had the images of baby hippogriffs on them and a tank top. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she was stretching so she could wake up a little more. She smiled at Harry when she noticed him sitting in front of the fireplace.

"Good afternoon Samantha," he said.

"Where is everyone?" asked Samantha sitting in the chair across from Harry.

"At lunch."

"Why aren't you with them?"

"Because we need to talk about what happened last night," he said looking straight at her. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Samantha wasn't good with being on the receiving end of an interrogation when she was the guilty party.

"Why did you do it?" Harry asked not wanting to wait around. Samantha shifted in her seat.

"Because, I have feelings for you," she said.

"What kind of feelings?" Harry asked surprised at her blunt answer.

"The more than friendly type," said Samantha her face turning bright red.

"Oh." Harry was silent for a few minutes trying to process what had he had just heard. It wasn't that he didn't return her feelings, quite the opposite really, it was just he didn't want to put her in any more danger.

Samantha began to grow worried. It was taking a long time for Harry to respond to her verbal confession.

"Uh, Harry can you say something please?" Samantha asked after a few minutes. Harry's head snapped up to look at her. He had almost forgotten that she was sitting there.

"Samantha, don't think that I don't feel the same way, because I do…"

"But?" She prodded.

"But everything is just so complicated!" Harry stated as he stood up and started to pace. "I haven't been in a relationship because I don't want to put whoever it is in danger. I…I…"

"Have a psychopath out to kill your ass, Harry I know all of this. Hell everyone knows all of this! But it shouldn't keep you from having a semi-normal life. Besides I'm not like the other girls around here. In case you've forgotten I also am wanted by Noldebort and I think I…we deserve a chance," Samantha said gaining confidence.

"His name is Voldemort," said Harry, correcting Samantha again.

"Whatever, are we going to be together or not?"

Harry sighed and turned to look at Samantha while rubbing his hand through his hair.

"You're not going to take no for an answer are you?" Harry asked. Samantha shook her head no. "Well then I guess we are."

Samantha jumped up and hugged him, right before kissing him.

"But you have to promise me that you'll be careful. No wondering around alone," said Harry.

"Harry we're in Hogwarts, what could possibly happen?" asked Samantha.

"More than you think, just Samantha promise me," Harry begged.

"Alright I promise to be careful," said Samantha seeing Harry's distress.

"Thank you," Harry said kissing her.

"So what are you going to tell Ron and Hermione?"

"That you were going to beat me until I agreed to date you," Harry replied jokingly. Samantha smacked him on the back of the head.

"Why do you care?" asked Harry with all seriousness.

Samantha hesitated before answering. "Because they are your best friends and it's no secret that they don't like me. So it's only safe to presume that they won't be too happy about you being with me,"

"Well they are just going to have to get over it. Besides they have both dated their share of people that I haven't liked, so they can't really complain. Don't worry about them."

Samantha kissed him one more time before going back up to her dormitory to change.

Later that afternoon Harry had told Ron and Hermione about him and Samantha. Their reactions weren't exactly the friendliest. Ron had even said that until Harry came out from under whatever spell he was under that he wouldn't associate with Harry anymore. A huge fight ensued and it ended with Harry screaming at the two of them before storming off.

Harry also wrote to Sirius telling him of the new developments. Being that Sirius lived in London, Harry hadn't received his response yet. But unlike with his friends, Harry expected Sirius to have a good reaction to his new relationship, due to the fact Sirius seemed to get along with Samantha.

The rest of the school, of course, knew by the end of the day. Everyone had mixed reactions. There were some who congratulated Harry (mostly the male population for 'snagging the hot American girl') while others sneered at either Samantha or Harry. Harry had a feeling that Samantha would be getting hate mail soon. His suspicions were right, for the next morning at breakfast no less than fifteen owls left letters for Samantha.

Harry tried to warn her to not open them. Samantha didn't listen. Instead she ripped open the first letter and read it. She did the same things with all of them. In one of the letters there was acid on the paper so when she touched it her skin was burned. This happened to be in the last letter she opened. She dropped the letter quickly.

"OUCH, MOTHER FUCKER!" Samantha screamed in pain, grabbing the injured hand. Everyone in the hall turned to look at her. Harry grabbed her hand and inspected them.

"Come on, we need to get you to the hospital wing," he said. They got and up walked out of the silent Great Hall.

The next time anyone saw Samantha was at lunch. She came into the large hall with her left hand bandaged. Her and Harry sat down and started to eat like normal when another bunch of owls delivered more letters to her.

This time she checked the letters to see if there were any spells or dangerous materials on any of them. When she was sure that she was safe she opened them. By the time she finished reading the last one she was fuming. Samantha quickly stood upon the Gryffindor table.

"Can I have everyone's attention please? Thank you, as you all know, I am now dating Harry Potter. Now some of you have decided to show your disagreement with this by sending me quite a few letters. I would especially like to point out a few in particular that I have received. Both are from the same person, someone who calls themselves Girl Who Wishes You Dead. The first letter I received from said individual burned my hand, which by the way hurts like hell. The second is as follows:

Samantha Granger,

You are a disgrace to all witches alive! Harry Potter

doesn't deserver you! Your accent is atrocious, and you are nothing more than an American wench! Soon Harry will see you for what you are and then you will have no one! Hope you like the burn!

Girl Who Wishes You Dead

"The other letters are much the same as this one. To all of you who have even thought about doing this here is what I have to say. I know that I'm not the smartest person in the world, but then again Harry knows this and he doesn't seem to have a problem with it. My accent is what all American raised citizens have, if it bothers you so much I can start speaking with an American southern accent and start saying things like y'all, ain't, and tatters."

Samantha took a breath before she continued. "Also a wench is a farm girl. Seeing as how I come from a city it's really not possible for me to be a wench. Finally and this goes out specifically to whoever wrote the letter I just read out loud, you had best go into hiding soon, because when I find out who you are I am going to make your life miserable. Oh and if any of you decide to write anything more, come up with something more original," she said and then sat down and began to finish eating her dinner.

_A/N: I'm sooooooooo sorry about how long it has taken me to get this chapter posted! I will try to get the next one up sooner. I'm actually at my beta's house for awhile, so now I can poke her until she edits my chapters! Please review!!!_


	20. First Date

Chapter Twenty

First Date

The month of December began with a snow storm that lasted the better part of the weekend. When it finally stopped it enveloped the castle and the grounds in what looked like two feet of snow, making Hogwarts look like it should be on a Christmas card.

Life inside the castle was not so perfect for a certain Granger, poor Samantha was stressing every minute of every day due to the thought of the midterms that were approaching. She studied day and night, barely giving any time to her newest romantic interest.

Harry did his best to keep her from having a mental breakdown and trying to balance his own stress, but as the homework increased it got harder to do. Their time spent together, to both their disappointment, was mostly homework collaboration and not any of the more enjoyable pastimes that their relationship brought.

So it was with extreme pleasure that Harry read the notice about the last Hogsmead weekend before Christmas. He thought that it would be a good time to get Samantha to take a break, as well as give him some time to distress, not to mention time to spend together.

Harry went to go find Sam to tell her the good news. He found her in the library finishing her Transfiguration homework. He snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders before kissing the top of her head. Enamored, that was the one word that described how he felt about her. He was completely taken by her, he couldn't explain it. Maybe Samantha had put a spell on him like Ron suggested, but if she did; Harry didn't want her to ever take it off. He was happier in the past three weeks than he had been all year.

Sam sighed heavily and stopped writing for a moment to enjoy Harry's embrace before he let go and sat down in the empty chair next to her.

"Hello, handsome, what brings you here?" asked Samantha, looking at him.

"You," Harry replied. Samantha giggled and kissed him.

"Now seriously, why are you here?"

"You," Harry repeated with a grin. "I came to tell you that next weekend is the Hogsmead weekend, and I thought that I could show you around. Maybe have lunch at this small little restaurant near the edge of the town, shop, enjoy a day together. Are you up for it?" said Harry.

"Hmmm, sounds lovely."

"Glad you think so because I would have made you come anyway. How far are you on your homework?" asked Harry.

Samantha groaned. "Not far enough unfortunately. I still have to finish my Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts, once I'm done with this stupid Transfiguration essay." She slammed the parchment with her fist in protest.

"I'm sure you'll do fine on them. Anyway I have to go do my rounds, so I'll see you at dinner," Harry said with a sigh, his Head Boy duties just added to the insanely long list of things to do. He gave her a quick goodbye kiss and got up.

"You're mean, teasing me like that," Sam told him with a frown. "I thought you were going to stay awhile."

Harry grinned. "I'll make up for it,"

The next weekend came faster than anyone expected, but no one complained. Everyone third year and up was filled with excitement for the anticipated trip into Hogsmead, none more so than Harry and Samantha. The two walked down the path to the little town in a comfortable silence, just happy to be together without any hidden agenda (i.e. homework questions).

Samantha was thrilled to finally see the town that Harry had told her about. She couldn't wait to visit Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks, she was longing for some butterbeer.

Upon the sight of Hogsmead at Christmas nearly took her breath away. She wished she had brought along a camera. The lights reflected off the snow giving the village a cheery glow and people were all out in the streets laughing and wishing each other Merry Christmas, she even saw a group of carolers.

"Well what do you think?" Harry asked.

"Do Santa's elves live here?"

Harry laughed and led her to Honeydukes, which was their first stop of the day.

The inside was already packed with students. Samantha immediately started looking for her favorite candy, only to find that they didn't have it. She went around the store once more thinking that she had missed it somehow, but her search was in vain.

"Harry do they have any Pixie Stix?" she asked finally giving up

"What?" Harry asked, he'd never heard of those. And they didn't sound too appealing.

"Pixie Stix, it's this long tube filled with sugar and some flavor stuff," Samantha explained.

"No they don't."

Samantha groaned. "This sucks," she said before going around the store a third time and purchasing the only candy that she recognized, chocolate frogs.

They walked back out into the cold air and headed down the street.

"Ooo, lets go there!" Sam said pointing to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"You don't want to go there," Harry disagreed.

"Why?"

"Because it's owned by the Weasley's."

"So?"

"Fred and George,"

"Fred and George?"

"Ron's brothers."

"Which ones?"

"The ones who hung up your knickers in the hall!"

"Those spawns of Satin own a STORE? Those foul unnatural idiots actually are competent enough to run a business?"

"Yes," Harry said, glad she finally understood.

"You're right, I don't want to go there,"

After they were done debating whether or not to visit Fred and George's shop Harry took her to Zonko's. Even though he knew he would hear it later from Fred and George for supporting the competition.

It took considerable less time for Samantha to shop there than it did in Honeydukes. Harry then took her to a small restaurant near the edge of the little town called The Witch's Brew. The first thing that Samantha noticed about the place was that there was considerably less people here than the two shops. The second thing she noticed was that Harry seemed to be a regular. The hostess immediately greeted them.

"Hello Harry, how are you today?" she asked.

"Hello Maria, I am excellent. How are you?" replied Harry.

"Good, I see you've brought someone new," she said indicating Samantha.

"Yes, this is my girlfriend Samantha Granger, Samantha this is Maria. She is the one that makes sure that none of the customers are bothered, which is one of the many reasons I come here," Harry said.

"It's nice to meet you," Samantha said. Maria's eyebrows rose at Samantha's accent.

"You too dear. Are Ron and Hermione going to join you today?" she asked Harry.

"No it's just Samantha and me today." She nodded and led them to a small booth in the back of the restaurant and handed them their menus. They both ordered and settled into a casual conversation.

"So do you come here a lot?" asked Samantha.

"Every Hogsmead trip since last winter and sometimes during the summer, if the situation allows."

"It's very nice."

"I've always thought so. It's better than Madam Puddifoots and quieter than The Three Broomsticks."

Their order was brought to them and they ate in silence, just enjoying the others company. When they were done Harry took Samantha on a quick trip to the Shrieking Shack and explained the story behind it. When they were done there He took her to The Three Broomsticks to get some Butterbeer.

The tavern was packed, as usual, and Harry and Samantha had to push their way through the crowd to an empty table near the bar. Harry left Samantha there while he went and got their drinks. Samantha looked around and noticed some of the teachers sitting at one table drinking together. At another table saw Dean, Seamus, Ginny, and Parvati. She heard the doors open and saw Ron and Hermione come in. Harry finally came back with the drinks. He handed Samantha hers and she drank a sip to warm her cold body.

"This is the best Butterbeer that I have ever had," she said. Harry chuckled. They were laughing and having a good time, thinking that nothing could ruin the day. But they were both wrong. As they were getting ready to leave Hogsmead a loud explosion was heard behind them. When they turned to look they saw one of the shops on fire and people running. Through the chaos Harry could see some Death Eaters walking through the town.

Harry was about to turn and tell Samantha to go back to Hogwarts when she started walking back towards the town. Harry ran to catch up with her.

"Samantha what are you doing? Go back to Hogwarts and get help," said Harry stopping her.

She gave him a weird look.

"Why so you can get yourself killed? No I'm helping," stated Samantha so firmly that Harry knew it was pointless to argue.

He just nodded and led the way. They reached the main road without much incident. Once they were back on the business street they saw people running in every direction and others trying to put out fires. Somehow in the chaos Ron and Hermione managed to find Harry.

"HARRY!" screamed Hermione, pushing a path towards him.

"Harry, you're still here, thank Merlin," said Ron panting.

"What do we do?" asked Hermione.

"We help where we can," was Harry's reply. So the four of them brought out their wands and walked forward.

Almost immediately Harry was engaged in a duel with one of the Death Eaters. Ron and Hermione soon followed, leaving Samantha to help with the destruction where she could. She was doing a pretty good job until she was flown across the street by one of the Death Eaters. Harry noticed this and tried to fight his way to her. As he looked around he noticed that members of the Order were there, including Sirius in his dog form; Sirius was leading people to an escape route. Harry looked back towards Samantha and saw the Death Eater standing over her.

"Hey there girlie, you must be the American girl that the Dark Lord wanted. I guess that since you're of no use to him now I can kill you," he said. Samantha was frozen in fear. Harry was running as fast as he could to get to Samantha, but he had to fight off more Death eaters along the way. Just as the one over Samantha was about to utter the death curse someone knocked into the Death Eater.

"NOOOOOOOO!" the person screamed. Harry had never seen him before. The action seemed to make Samantha come out of her daze and she quickly got up and moved away. Before anyone could do anything else all of the Death Eaters apparated away, leaving everyone to try and figure out what happened.

Harry ran over to Samantha. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Who stopped that Death Eater?" she asked. Harry looked over at the man who was rising from the ground.

"I don't know I've never seen him before." It was the first time Harry got a glimpse of his features. His face was thin but not too much. He had deep blue eyes and light brown hair. Though Harry didn't recognize the man Samantha did.

"Chris!" she said in shock, walking over to him.

"Hello Sam," Chris replied. Before anything else could be said Dumbledore spoke.

"Everyone in the Order and you five need to come back to the castle. We need to have a meeting," Dumbledore said indicating that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Samantha, and Chris were the five he was speaking of. Everyone followed the old headmaster up into his office. Once the door was shut and locked and a silence charm was placed upon the room to keep outsiders from hearing the conversation, Sirius returned to his human form. He looked livid.

"YOU SORRY BASTARD!" he shouted, right before punching Chris in the face.

_A/N: Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. I need to get my beta to edit it. (She's read it but hasn't corrected it). No promises on how long it will take though. PLEASE REVIEW! _


	21. A Potter's Secret

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Twenty-One

A Potter's Secret

"Sirius what are you doing?" exclaimed an appalled McGonagall. Everyone turned to look at him. Chris was holding his nose, which was bleeding. Samantha quickly handed him some tissue, which he took gratefully. Sirius was staring at Chris with pure hatred in his eyes. He didn't bother answering McGonagall's question.

"Nice to see you too," said Chris once his nose stopped bleeding.

"I'm surprised you even have the guts to show your face around here anymore! What, did your conscience finally guilt you into coming back?" sneered Sirius.

"And what would you know of having a conscience Black. You've never regretted anything."

"Ha, you are extremely behind in your news _Potter_! Maybe you should just go back to wherever it was that you were hiding and stay there."

"You know nothing about me Black!"

"I know that people like you don't change and because of that I should hex you back to wherever you came from!"

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise!"

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON?" screamed Samantha. Everyone jumped at the sound of the new voice.

"Why don't you tell her Chris. After all you do know her the best," said Sirius.

"You're an asshole." Chris reminded before turning to her. "Look Samantha, do you remember when I told you about my parents?"

Samantha nodded not understanding how that fit into what as going on now.

"Well after they died I became a bit of prick."

"You became even more of a jealous, little, whinny, baby than you already were!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Do you want to tell the story or not?" Chris asked annoyed. "Anyway my brother and I had a bit of a falling out, which is why Sirius is not too happy to see me, seeing as how he was close to my brother. The falling out was the reason that I went to live in America,"

Harry had a feeling that there was more to the story than Chris was letting on.

"Wonderful Chris, now that that's out of the way why don't we go back to what I brought you here for. I need to know exactly what happened in Hogsmead," Dumbledore stared at each of them with a serious expression, one he rarely wore.

Each person told their story in turn. Once they were done and Dumbledore had established a pretty good time line, the four Hogwarts students and Chris were asked to leave.

"If you don't mind Albus I would like to speak with Harry and his friends some more," said Sirius eyeing Chris warily.

"But Sirius don't you want to sit in on the meeting?" asked Dumbledore with his familiar twinkle back in his eye.

"Remus can catch me up," Sirius said standing up.

"Of course leave all to me," Remus muttered.

"I can't help it, you always were the responsible one,"

"Alright, go to the Room of Requirement to talk. Chris I believe that Charms was your best subject. I would like you to help Professor Flitwick with some of his projects. He's expecting you so please go to his classroom as soon as possible, you do remember where his room is don't you?"

Chris nodded.

The others followed and five people and one black dog filed out of the headmaster's office. The black dog led the students to the hall where the Room of Requirement was. It was here that they separated with Chris, but not before he glared at the dog.

After Chris continued on his way Harry, Samantha, Ron, Hermione, and Sirius in his dog form entered the room.

"What's going on Sirius," asked Harry when they were all in the room.

"You'd better sit down," Sirius replied. He didn't continue until they all had. "There are things about Chris that you all need to know."

"No offense Sirius, but I know Chris pretty well, I don't think there's much that you can tell me," Samantha told him.

"You won't know what I'm about to tell."

Samantha raised an eyebrow.

"You see Chris didn't complete his seven years at Hogwarts. His mother was absolutely crushed at the thought that her youngest child wasn't going to finish his education. Sure he completed his OWL's but she really wished that he would complete his NEWT's like his older brother. She begged Chris to continue with his education but he wouldn't listen. His brother got so upset with him that he contacted me and we went to try and talk some sense into him. A huge fight erupted and Chris packed his bags and refused to talk to anyone in his family again. He didn't leave any contact information and for months no one knew where he was. Later that summer Voldemort killed his parents."

Samantha frowned, '_Poor Chris'_.

"For some reason he decided to go to their funeral. His brother was livid that Chris had the gall to show up after all of the pain that he had put everyone through, especially their mother. His brother didn't confront him until after everyone had left the funeral and I can assure you he was rather civil considering how mad he was at Chris. They came to an agreement that basically stated that Chris would accept letters from his brother and then let his brother know if he was ever going to visit again. Chris followed the agreement for awhile. His brother graduated and got accepted into Auror training but Chris wasn't there to witness any of it."

"Why not?" Samantha asked. She was quickly hushed by everyone.

"Then one night Chris arrived un-expectedly to his brother's home. His brother and his brother's fiancé were having the rehearsal dinner for their wedding. Chris came in drunk off his arse and started saying all of these awful things, insulting everyone in the room. His brother kept his temper in check up until Chris called his future wife a dirty, loose-"

Sirius cast a quick glance at Harry and decided to keep the latter comments to himself.

"Er, let's just say that Chris had a few injuries the next morning. I don't know what Chris' reason for coming that night was but he pissed his brother off so badly, that the last time he saw Chris was that night. And the last time that he wrote to Chris was when his first child, a son, was born. The last time that we heard of Chris' whereabouts was when he wrote a letter to his brother right after his nephew was born saying that something had come up and he wouldn't be in contact with them for awhile,"

Everyone sat in silence processing what Sirius had just said.

"Sirius how do you know all of this?" Harry finally asked.

"I know Harry, because Chris," Sirius paused for a moment trying to figure out how to tell his godson the tragic news. "is your uncle,"

Everyone was stunned into silence.

"Nooo!" Samantha gasped. Sirius looked at her funny, she was rather dramatic.

"What?" he asked.

"No, I refuse to believe that Chris did such _horrible_ things, to his family no less. He was always telling me to be thankful for having loving parents."

"Well maybe he realized how dumb he had been, but his stubbornness made him refuse to apologize. Or he realized it too late. Don't ask me how his brain works as I don't know. But I do know that Chris is James' little brother, which makes him Harry's uncle."

"Hooray! You've figured out a family tree, without the drapery!" Samantha applauded, remembering what Harry had told her about the Black family tree.

"She's so moronic," Ron said.

Hermione couldn't even respond.

Harry was stunned. He had never known that his father had any siblings at all and now he has an uncle from his father's side.

Samantha was in shock as well once her mind returned back to the bigger issue. She had thought that she knew Chris fairly well, but he obviously didn't tell her everything. She had never seen the side of him that Sirius had described.

"I'm sorry but I still have a very hard time believing this," said Samantha.

"I understand Samantha; after all you are close to him. But I want all of you to be careful around him. I don't trust him," Sirius warned.

"Why not?" asked Ron.

"Because when he was crashing the rehearsal dinner and in between insulting people he was spouting off some weird things, things that seemed too dark for comfort. Just promise me that you'll be careful around him please," Sirius asked each of them.

"I promise," said Ron.

"I promise," said Hermione.

"I promise," said Harry.

Sirius looked at Samantha, she just looked back and didn't say a word.

"Samantha I know you trust Chris and that you barely know me, but it would ease my mind a little bit if you also promised," Sirius told her.

"Fine, I promise, but only because I know that we have nothing to fear from Chris. He wouldn't…" She took a deep breath. "won't hurt us."

"I truly hope you're right Samantha, but I still want you four to be on your guard around him, and tell me if he does or says anything out of the ordinary or that could be suspicious."

"Alright Sirius, we'll be careful," Harry promised.

"Thank you." With nothing else to say Sirius stood up and transformed into his dog form and left the room but not before he gave a dog hug to Harry.

"Harry, are you going to be alright?" Hermione asked. Nothing small ever seemed to happen to her friend and she was anxious at how he would take this news.

"I'll be fine Hermione, I just…I just need time to process everything," He replied slowly, he didn't actually know the answer to that question. Would he be alright?

No one knew what to say.

It was the worst ending to an almost perfect day.

_AN: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!! My beta got really busy with other stuff. Hopefully it won't take her as long to edit the next chapter, but don't hold your breath. Thank you all for reading. Please review._

_Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I would be living in England with my lovely beta reader. But alas I am a poor student, barely making ends meet. _


	22. The Dark Lord's Will

Chapter Twenty-Two

The Dark Lord's Will

The Dark Lord was furious. All of his followers felt his furry. Zachary Foote had a feeling it had something to do with the attack on Hogsmead. From what he had gathered from the others, it was not a planned mission. Instead some new recruits were being incredibly dumb. It was a bit comforting to know that it wasn't part of the Dark Lord's will because it had been an incredibly foolish mission to begin with. There was a serious lack of planning.

Voldemort turned to face his followers his eyes flaring with anger.

"Michaels, Jorgensen, and Smith step forward!" he commanded. The three Death Eaters stepped forward, all knowing that they weren't going to live. Voldemort waited a few minutes before he did anything.

"CRUCIO!" he shouted at the three. They all went down withering in pain. Voldemort left the curse on them for awhile. When he finally took it off the Death Eaters had difficulty pushing themselves up into a kneeling position. Foote mentally grimaced.

"I hear that you decided to lead an attack on Hogsmead," Voldemort stated calmly. "I also hear that you had a bit of a run in with the Granger girl, Smith. I heard that you tried to kill her, but someone knocked you to the ground before you could finish your spell! Now tell me, did _I _give you leave to perform such acts? Did _I_ tell you that I wanted the girl dead?"

Everyone waited with anticipation for the upcoming punishment.

"No master," Smith said, apparently the leader of the three.

"No, I didn't. Now what gave you the incredulous idea that you could form an attack so close to Hogwarts without _my_ permission?" The Death Eaters didn't answer, knowing that their reason was feeble at best and their master would not accept it. Silence would be less painful.

"You have been incredibly foolish, and you now must pay for your actions! AVADA KADEVRA!" There were three flashes of green light and the three Death Eaters fell to the ground dead. Voldemort turned dangerously to face his living followers, his eyes glinting menacingly as he looked each one of his remaining followers in the eye.

"Let this be a warning to you all! No attack will occur without my approval! As for the American witch, no one touches her! With the new information that has been given to me, she can be of use yet and I need her alive for my plan to succeed! Now get out of my sight!"

The Death Eaters quickly left not wanting to face their master's wraith. Zachary Foote became even more fearful for Samantha Granger's life, as a soft 'pop' signaled his departure of Death Eater headquarters.

_Author's Note: So, incredibly sorry for the ridiculously long delay. Life got chaotic, and writing became the last th_ing on my mine. Not to mention my beta's life (who seems t_o have lost interest in doing the job). Anyway, I know it is quite a short chapter, hopefully the next one will be up sooner. _


	23. Christmas Plans

Chapter Twenty-Three

Christmas Plans

The four students kept to their promise to Sirius. True to Samantha's words however, Chris didn't really do much. He talked with Samantha quite often, but the other three didn't want much to do with him so stayed away from him as much as possible. This wasn't hard to do with their classes, Quidditch, homework, and other tasks that they had to complete. Chris also didn't seem to think it was important to talk to anyone else, besides Samantha, more than was necessary. He didn't even seek Harry out to talk to him about their relation to each other, even though he knew that Sirius had told Harry. So they really didn't have any need to complain to Sirius about Chris' behavior. In fact, according to Samantha, the only one acting weird was Harry and he was just being more protective of her than he had been before. When she asked him about it, he said that he didn't want to be caught off their guard again. So, she just let it go.

Christmas holidays were coming fast. Samantha didn't think much on it until Professor McGonagall came around with the list of the students that were going to stay for Christmas. Samantha wasn't sure what to do. After all she could go and spend it with her aunt and uncle, but then she would also feel weird if Hermione stayed at Hogwarts and she spent the holiday with Hermione's parents without her. Her decision was made for her when Hermione came up to her and stated that her parents were expecting the two of them this Christmas.

One snowy Saturday afternoon Ron and Harry's plans were made known. Samantha had come down after her shower and found Ron and Harry playing chess and Hermione sitting on the couch reading a book. She heard the last part of the conversation as she sat down.

"Ever since the attacks mum's been insisting that we spend every possible moment together. So Ginny and I are going home for Christmas," said Ron, taking one of Harry's knights.

"Are you staying here Harry?" asked Hermione, without looking up from her book.

"No, Snuffles said that a bunch of people from the Order are going to be staying at Grimmauld Place, and he wants me to help him with some plans of his," replied Harry.

"What plans?" asked Ron.

"I don't know, he didn't say."

"What's Grimmauld Place?" asked Samantha. Ron and Hermione didn't notice that she had sat down so when she spoke they both jumped.

"Bloody Hell Granger, what are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" Ron said.

"Well it's illegal to put you under the Chinese Water Torture, so I have no other choice," Samantha replied.

"You're sadistic!" exclaimed Ron.

"And you're a dick!" replied Samantha.

"Enough!" said Harry, stopping the fight before it really started. He had noticed that the fights seemed to be a growing trend in the past few weeks and didn't want to deal with another one.

"So, what's Grimmauld Place?" asked Samantha again, looking at Harry.

"My godfather's house," he replied going to back to the game he was playing with Ron.

"Oh, how is he by the way?" asked Samantha, getting comfortable.

"He's good, he's excited for Christmas.

"Is he still demanding information about Chris?"

"Yes, I don't think he'll ever stop." The four teenagers fell into silence for a few moments no one had anything else to say.

They sat in silence until Ron beat Harry at chess once again. He yawned loudly and got up stretching.

"I'm hungry," Ron said. Harry looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was dinner time. Trust Ron's stomach to be aware of when food is being served. The four walked down to the Great Hall and sat down. About half way through their meal, Chris suddenly entered. He looked around quickly and spotted Samantha. He walked quickly towards her obviously wanting to speak with her.

"Samantha I want to talk to you before you leave for the holidays. It's important," he said looking at her. Harry stiffened at the presence of his uncle. He had not forgotten what Sirius had said about him, and had not really warmed up to the man.

"About what?" asked Samantha, taking another bite from her dinner. Chris looked at Harry before he answered her.

"Just some things, just make sure that you leave some time for us to talk," he said and then walked away.

That night Samantha went to the room that Chris stayed in to see what he wanted to speak to her about. She knocked on his door twice before he answered. When he opened the door he was wearing his pajamas already. He stepped aside to let her in.

"So, what is it that you want to talk to me about?" asked Samantha. Chris motioned for her to sit down.

"Well, to be honest you're not going to like what I have to say." Chris paused for a moment before continuing. "Samantha…why are you dating Harry?"

"What?" asked Samantha, completely flabbergasted as to why Chris would ask such a question.

"Why Harry?" Chris demanded.

"Because he's funny, caring, good looking, and he understands me more than anyone else I have ever met!"

"Are you sure it's not because he's the only one who seems to get along with you here?" Chris asked tentatively, reaching out to touch Samantha's shoulder. Samantha was outraged. She backed out of Chris' reach.

"Absolutely not! Chris I'm not like that! You _know_, I wouldn't do that! Why are you asking these questions?" Samantha cried. Chris sighed before answering her. He seemed to be struggling for words, trying to find the best words to say.

"Samantha, I just don't think that Harry is good enough for you," said Chris lamely. Samantha didn't know if that was Chris' real reason, but she knew it was a load of hogwash.

"Not good enough! Chris you don't even know him! You haven't even tried to get to know him! How can you judge him without actually ever talking to him?" Samantha screamed, her eyes narrowing into slits in her anger.

"Because I knew his father! James was always arrogant! He always got his way and got away with things! And like it or not Samantha but anyone who knew James can see him in Harry!" Chris was no longer looking at her. Instead, he was pacing around the room, gesturing wildly.

"So I have been told! But you are also forgetting that I've heard things about how sweet his mother was and he has to have some of her in him too! After all, that's how genetics work!" Chris inhaled deeply as if to counter her point. He pointed at her and then exhaled heavily, lowered his hand and looked at the ground.

"Sam, I just don't want you to get hurt." His tone had gone from harsh to soft. Samantha wasn't ready to give up the fight.

"Why do you care so much now? You never used to care too much about the boys I dated in Salem!" she snarled.

"This isn't Salem Samantha, and Harry isn't just a boy! He's 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'!" Chris said, beginning to shout again.

"I have already been through this conversation with Harry! I don't care that Goldynot is after him, and by me being with him, puts me in more danger!"

"Samantha you obviously don't understand the severity of Harry's situation!"

"You know what? You're probably right, I probably don't understand the severity of his situation, but I do know that Harry makes me happy! And since Halloween there have been very few times when I was as happy as I once was, and deep in my soul I know that Harry is the reason behind each and every moment!"

"Samantha, you're being foolish!"

"You know what Chris, I obviously can't convince you about how Harry and I feel for each other, but then I can't expect you to understand. After all, you've never had close relationship with anyone!"

Chris stared at Samantha, obviously hurt by her last words. She almost felt guilty for using such a low blow...almost.

"I hope you enjoy your Christmas break," he said opening the door for her to leave. Samantha didn't say a word, to angry with him to articulate anything. She stormed back to the Gryffindor Common Room, startling Harry who was reading by the fireplace. Samantha flopped down onto the couch and laid her head on Harry's lap. She let out a groan of frustration and rubbed her hands over her eyes.

"I take it that the conversation with Chris didn't go well," Harry said, putting his book away. He started to message Samantha's temple.

"Not only did it not go well, it blew royal ass!" Samantha said.

"May I inquire as to what you were talking about?" asked Harry. Samantha sighed.

"You."

"Me?" Of all of the topics of conversation Harry expected Samantha and Chris to talk about, he was on the bottom of the list.

"Yes, apparently he doesn't think you're good enough for me and that you're too much like your dad," Samantha said. Harry laughed.

"It sounds like he and Snape need to start talking with each other. They both can complain about how much of an arrogant, incompetent person I am," said Harry jokingly. Samantha giggled.

"I hope not because I hate Snape!"

"Feeling better yet?" Harry asked, bending down to kiss her.

"Much."

"Good, now I suggest that we go to our respective dormitories and get some sleep. After all it's the last week of class before the holidays!"

Samantha got up from her position and walked with her arms wrapped around Harry's waist until they had to separate. They kissed each other good night and went to bed.


	24. Unwanted Visitors

Chapter Twenty-Four

Unwanted Visitors

The last week of school before the break felt extremely long for the students. When the last class finally got out the students happily went to their dormitories to put up their things before dinner. Samantha began to feel even more in the Christmas spirit than the rest of the student body. She began to sing carols while walking down the hallway and was wearing a variety of holiday sweaters, the worst of which had a snowman and Rudolf on it (Harry didn't have the heart to tell her that the sweater was hideous).

Right before the last night at Hogwarts, Samantha donned a Santa hat and set up a bucket and rang a bell in the entrance to the Great Hall. She rang the bell while singing Christmas carols as everyone else walked passed. Ron and Hermione were the first to speak with Samantha.

"What _are _you doing?" asked Ron.

"Collecting money for the less fortunate," said Samantha.

"Look around you Samantha, who would fall into that category around here?" said Ron meanly. Samantha looked around carefully and then eyed Hermione, and Ron up and down.

"Well to be perfectly honest Ron, you would," she replied back, noticing his hand-me-down robes. She didn't intend for her sentence to sound mean, but Ron took it as an insult.

"Why you…" said Ron, before he grabbed her bell and started to hit her with it.

"RONALD STOP!" screamed Hermione, but Ron didn't listen. Samantha now had her hands over her head trying to block Ron's blows.

"ARRGGHHHH, RAPE! RAPE!" she screamed trying to get someone to help her.

Harry was slowly walking to dinner when he heard Samantha's screams. Thinking that she was in more trouble than she actually was he started to run towards her screams. As he turned the last corner he had so much momentum built up that he lost his balance and fell flat on his face, sliding along the floor a little. It also didn't help that Peeves had just waxed the floor. When he looked up he saw Ron hitting Samantha with the bell. Samantha was now trying to get the bell back from Ron. She finally managed to snatch it back and then hit Ron with it.

"That hurt!" she screamed at him.

"Well you don't need to insult me!" Ron screamed back.

"I wasn't!"

"Yes you were!"

"Harry why are you on the floor?" asked Ginny who had just entered the hall. Harry looked at Ron's little sister. The new voice also attracted Ron, Hermione, and Samantha's attention.

"I fell," he explained getting up.

"Why did you fall?" asked Samantha. Harry stared at her in astonishment.

Peeves came around the corner laughing and pointing at Harry. Everyone now knew that he has something to do with Harry's fall.

"I heard you screaming from three levels up! I was running to find you and lost my balance! I can't tell you how much of a relief it was to find out it was only Ron and you fighting again!" said Harry, ignoring Peeves. Samantha smiled sheepishly.

"Hehe, sorry," she said.

"So now that everything is alright, I say we go and eat dinner," said Ginny. They all followed her into the Great Hall, Ron glaring at Samantha the entire time.

The next morning was interesting to say the least. First it took Hermione twenty minutes to get Samantha to get up. Then another ten to convince her that she didn't need all of her luggage (which was a lot). When Samantha and Hermione finally made it down to the entrance hall where Harry and Ron were waiting for them, Samantha began to get impatient with having to wait.

When the Threstral drawn carriages arrived, Samantha looked at them with distrust. Because she couldn't see the Threstrals she didn't want the carriage to suddenly fall while she was in it.

"But there's nothing pulling them!" cried Samantha when Harry tried dragging her into one. He leaned against the carriage and looked Samantha dead in the eye.

"Samantha, darling, Threstrals pull the carriages…" Harry started, trying to be patient.

"Threstrals! Are you serious?" Harry nodded his head.

"Shouldn't you be able to see them? I thought that since your parents had died in your house, you would be able to see them," said Ron. Harry smacked him over the head.

"I didn't actually _see_ them die Ron! I heard Goldymot telling them that he was going to kill them, and then I ran before he actually did!" Samantha said trying to hold back her tears.

"Come on, we're going to miss the train," said Hermione.

The rest of the journey to London was completely silent. When they finally arrived at Platform 9 ¾ Hermione and Ron went through the barrier first with Samantha and Harry following soon after. Once through the barrier Harry saw Lupin greeting Ron and Hermione. Hermione's parents were speaking with Mr. Weasley. Harry grabbed Samantha's hand and led her over to the group.

"Oh, Harry dear, how are you?" said Mrs. Weasley giving Harry one of her famous hugs.

"I'm great Mrs. Weasley. How are you?" replied Harry.

"I'm well."

"Hello Harry," greeted Lupin.

"Hello Professor, I mean Remus," said Harry catching himself. Lupin smiled.

"I take it you are Samantha," Lupin said.

"Yes, sir."

"My name is Remus Lupin," he said extending his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Lupin," Samantha said shaking it.

"Samantha, we're leaving now," said Hermione who was now standing by her parents. Samantha kissed Harry good-bye and grabbed her trunk and left with her aunt and uncle.

Like when she had first come to England the car ride was silent. When they reached the Granger home Samantha and Hermione immediately went to their respective rooms and got settled in.

"Girls, dinner is ready!" shouted Hermione's mom up the stairs. Once everyone was settled down Hermione's father tried to strike up a conversation.

"So how was school?" he asked the girls.

"Much the same as it always is," replied Hermione.

"What about for you Samantha?"

"Interesting, in a bizarre kind of way."

"How so?" asked Hermione's mother. Before Samantha could answer the front door to the Granger home was blown in. The Grangers stood quickly and watched in fright as the Death Eaters entered their home. Samantha was astonished and just realized that she had left her wand up in her room. Hermione however had hers with her. She quickly brought it out and started shouting spells at the Death Eaters. A few were stunned immediately; the others quickly put up shields and stepped behind something for protection.

"Samantha, quick go send a message for help!" screamed Hermione.

"How?" Samantha shouted back. She knew that Hermione didn't have an owl to send a message.

"I don't know call someone!" said Hermione trying to fend of the Death Eaters. Samantha rolled her eyes at that remark. Looking around Samantha noticed that there was no way that they were going to win this fight with only Hermione fighting. So she decided to do one of the bravest, and arguably, the most stupid thing she had ever done in her life. She took a candle stick from the table and charged into the throng of Death Eaters. They obviously weren't expecting such a reaction and were surprised when Samantha pummeled into them. This gave Hermione the opportunity to disable a few more Death Eaters. Samantha herself knocked one out by hitting him in the head with the candle stick.

"Gotcha!" said one of the Death Eaters while grabbing Samantha. Samantha could no longer move her arms.

"Samantha duck, STUPEFY!" screamed Hermione. Samantha moved her head just in time to have the stunner hit the Death Eater that held her captive. It turned out that he had been the last Death Eater standing. Hermione's parents looked between the two girls in astonishment.

"Are you alright?" asked Hermione.

"I want Harry," whined Samantha, still frightened with the whole situation.

"What in the bloody hell just happened?" screamed Mr. Granger. Hermione paused for a moment. She took a glass cup and turned it into a small owl.

"Samantha please write to Professor Dumbledore and explain what happened and wait for a response please," she said. Samantha nodded; she knew that her cousin wanted to be alone when she had to explain why they had been attacked to her parents.

Samantha went up to her room to write the letter. It was rather short considering the events that had happened, but Samantha figured that haste was needed more right now.

It was awhile before a response came. Samantha was now back downstairs helping her family clean up the mess created by the fight. The Death Eaters were tied up in the Granger's living room. She was in the front hall picking up pictures from the floor when she felt a small group of people behind her. Thinking it was another Death Eater she turned and shot a stunner at the person closest to her. That person turned out to be Remus Lupin. Samantha recognized only Lupin and Professor Dumbledore.

"Nice shot," said a woman with bright pink hair.

"Who are you?" asked Samantha not even bothering with being polite. The night had already been far too stressing on her to even attempt it. Her question was answered when Hermione and her parents came over to see what all of the noise was about.

"Tonks, Mad-Eye, Lupin, Professor, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you," Hermione said in greeting.

"I think it would be best to hasten this process along a bit Dumbledore, others might be coming," said the man that Samantha deduced was called Mad-Eye.

"Yes of course Alastor. I must ask the four of you to gather whatever belongings you might want. We will be taking you someplace much safer. Don't worry I'll be taking care of the Death Eaters," said Dumbledore. The Grangers nodded and went to get their things. By the time that they were all back down Moody had taken the Death Eaters to Azkaban.

"What now?" asked Samantha.

"I am going to send you to a safer place," said Dumbledore.

"Where is this 'safer place'?" asked Mr. Granger.

"Grimmauld Place," replied Lupin.

"Can my parents even go in there? I mean they're muggles after all," asked Hermione.

"Yes they will be able to enter, however you will have to travel in the muggle way. Tonks and Remus will be escorting you there."

"Why aren't you?" asked Samantha.

"Samantha, don't be rude!" snapped Hermione.

"It's a fair question! The answer to it is that due to the circumstances I have decided to have all of you stay in one place. So I must go to the Burrow and tell Weasley's that we will all spend Christmas together. Now I suggest you leave now." Lupin and Tonks stepped toward the car that they were to travel in. Once everyone was in and settled they started on the drive towards Grimmauld Place. Samantha fell asleep somewhere along the ride and had to be prodded awake by Hermione once they reached their destination.

"Here, read this piece of paper," said Lupin passing around the paper to everyone. After everyone had read it Number 12, Grimmauld Place appeared on the street.

"Be quiet when you step into the entrance hall," Lupin advised.

"Just set your things down, you can get them later," whispered Tonks once they were inside. Samantha's first reaction to the dreary atmosphere of the house was that it would be perfect for a scary movie. The Grangers were led into the kitchen where the Weasley children were demanding to know why they had been brought to the Order's headquarters. Sirius and Harry were standing towards the back in their pajamas looking on at the situation. Harry was the first to notice the Granger family. He also noticed the cut Samantha had received when she had lunged into the Death Eaters.

"Merlin, Samantha what the hell happened?" shouted Harry, rushing over to her. Everyone's attention was immediately upon the Grangers.

_Author's Note: So, yeah, I am not going to even bother with excuses this time. Please know that I have been whittling away at this, albeit really slowly. I do intend to finish it. Thank you for reading. _


End file.
